To the Dance
by Genesisgoboom
Summary: A rescue is being planned, but will he be there to be saved? SaiNaru.. later hinted GaaNaru, one sided SasuNaru, KarNaru wow Naruto is a popular guy
1. The New Boy

Opening the door to a new class is nerve racking, but to Sai, it was nothing new, this had been the third transfer since his parents had died some years ago, it was not that he was a bad student, but he never really settled anywhere.

He walked into the class room as his name was being written upon the board, he focused on the chalk dust as it drifted to the floor, not paying attention to the voices that began to blur into a flurry of whispers. He turned to face what would be his new 'friends'

Of a class of 20, 19 eyes were looking his way, One pair of dark eyes seemed to mirror his own, and Sai began to stare at them, " Class This is Sai… no second name given… Urm… Sai, will be joining us this term, please make him feel welcome. Sai, if you could take a seat at the back, next to..." the teacher began to look at his list for the boys name, there were to seats at the back, one next to the window, beside a sullen blond, and the other was next to the dark eyes fellow he had been staring at.

"Naruto"

The blond boy turned, as though he was only now aware of something happening, and to Sai's surprise the most amazing pair of eyes turned to look at him, only then to look right back out the window without a second thought, and for a moment he felt frozen, only barely did Sai bring himself to move, and as the sounds of disappointed girls drifted to his ears, He pulled the chair out from the desk, Naruto turned away from the window then (as Sai was blocking his view) to look at nothing in particular. Sai was then greeted with a big pair of green eyes and a cheerful smile instead.

" My name is Sakura, I am vice president of the class, Sasuke is the president, if you have any questions you should ask us"

Sakura then lent towards the pale boy and bade him to do the same, once he was close to her she lowered her voice, but not enough to be truly decent for what she had to say.

" I would avoid talking to Naruto, he is a weirdo"

Naruto shifted in his seat and obviously pretended not to hear anything, But Sai's face darkened slightly, "thank you … Sakura was it? But I try to make my own judgments on people" Sai turned to Naruto and extended a hand towards the blond. " My name is Sai, it is nice to make your acquaintance Naruto." Once again Dazzling sapphire eyes rose, this time to look to the Obsidian eyes of Sai, it took him a moment, but he eventually took the others hand and meekly shook it, "urm.. hallo" That was all Naruto got to say before the class began.

--

A week passed, and all Sai had gotten from Naruto was an occasional Hallo or an odd glance, before he would be dragged away by another student, it seemed that Sai was rather popular in the school as people with eyes as dark as him seemed to be rare.

Sasuke Uchiha, the Class president, was another with similar eyes, though it seemed that they would not get along well, each time Sai attempted to talk to him, he would be met with a haughty reply, or some such, Sakura also did not seem very taken with him after the first encounter, though a dark haired senior by the name of Tenten was making sure Sai knew she was interested, So it was not surprising that a mere two hours after the announcement of the School dance, that Sai found himself now with a date and an order that he had BETTER be a good dancer as she HAD to be homecoming queen this year, at the risk of loosing his ability to bare children, Sai swore he was a good dancer and that he would not let her down. The big problem there was… Sai could not dance, he had never tried.

A few hours later, Sai found himself sitting in the class room alone, He was trying to figure out a way to tell Tenten that he could not go, but still remain alive afterwards. It was during his contemplations that the door slide open, dark eyes looked up to find shocked blue ones staring at him

"what are you doing here?"

Naruto seemed almost offended by the fact that Sai was in the room, and literally skulked towards his desk 'you should be out for lunch, like the rest of them' he said as though Sai's presence was a burden to him, Sai looked at the boy for a moment and then frowned " Why do they treat you that way Naruto?" The blond slide back his char abruptly and made to walk away without a word.

Sai Stood then " Wait!" The blond halted, but did not turn around " Do you… do you know how to dance?" This seemed to get the blonds attention, as he turned to once again look at the fellow but did not say anything, he only listened as Sai spoke " I need to learn how to dance in three weeks, if I don't I think Tenten might kill me" That was the first time Sai saw Naruto smile, and the Smile then turned into a laugh, Naruto had a really sweet laugh, he decided, and soon he was laughing with him.

It turned out Naruto could dance, not only that, but he was very good at it too, though he was not too keen on giving Sai dancing lessons at school, and when Sai suggested that He go to Naruto's house he was met with.

" No, that's not a good idea, My guardian isn't very friendly at the best of times, and I don't think she would like me bringing people home, heh, she doesn't like 'me' going home half the time, I dunno, perhaps its not a good idea, besides, I really shouldn't be talking to you"

Sai frowned again, as he was finding himself doing more and more as it came to peoples reactions towards Naruto " why shouldn't you be talking to me? I don't see anything wrong with it?" And once more the blond seemed to shut down, and Sai instantly regretted his words. "How about this then, you come to my house, I live with my Aunt, and she is hardly ever there anyway… you can teach me there? And if it makes you feel better, I won't talk to you in school, Alright?"

Naruto nodded, though he still seemed none to pleased about the situation, Sai was not overly thrilled either, Sure, it was nice to finally have gotten to talk to Naruto, but what possessed him to ask the boy if he could show him how to dance? The rest of the class began to file in from lunch then and nothing more was said on it, Starting tomorrow, Naruto would be his dance teacher, and Sai would pretend that he was not interested in the boy

--

Sweat was dripping from Sai's face and his shirt was sticking to his back as for the fifth time Naruto Stopped him saying 'no no no, your doing it all wrong, you need to lead the girl, not blindly steer her around the room like your swinging a cat"

The girl was a mop, and the room was his basement, Naruto sat on the floor giving him directions on how he should hold the girl, and how his feet should be moving, but Sai just didn't seem to be able to take it all in, and so also for the fifth time, Naruto stood and took a hold of the mop.

"Like this" He said as he formed an arch with his arm and held the mop out from him, pretending to take an imaginary hand in his, Sai threw his hands up in the air and let out an agitated scream, "Argh, I am never going to get this before the dance!" He began to march to the door, but a hand upon his own stopped him, Naruto's hand was warm, and a heat rushed through Sai to the feel of it.

"Look… How about this, you be the girl, and I will lead you… then you can see how I do it, after that we will switch places"

Naruto spoke in a quiet tone as he said it, as though he was almost afraid to suggest it in the first place. It did not take a second thought for Sai to except these terms though, and he gripped Naruto's hand and lead him back into the room.

Naruto could feel his heart pounding within his chest as he gripped the others hand, He looked away as his fingers spread over Sai's back. Sai placed his hands to Naruto's shoulders, and looked to how Naruto was positioned, Naruto was ridged as though he had a pole for a spine, he took three deep breath and without turning to look at Sai he whispered ' follow my lead'

Feet began to move, and Sai staggered trying to keep up, Naruto was counting out the pace as they danced, and after a few moments it became easier for Sai to understand, they danced at the rhythm, keeping to a set circle. Sai closed his eyes then, letting himself be guided by Naruto, so he was not ready for the sudden stop. Legs became entangled and air began to rush past his ears as he went hurtling to the floor below him. He felt Naruto's Hand gripping to his, but it was to late

He opened his eyes to look at the ceiling, Naruto was a heavy weight upon his chest, but for the moment he did not mind it being there, He did not want to move, but Naruto obviously did, he did a pushup off the other and once more Sai found himself looking into those shocking eyes.

Naruto looked away and Stood up " I think that's enough for today… I will come by again on the weekend and we can start the next step" And without even an offer to help him up, Naruto left.

--

Sai kept thinking about Naruto all that night, and through to the next morning, there was something about the look Naruto had gotten in his eyes that made Sai want to know more about him, Later that morning he pult a girl in his class aside, she was a plain blond girl by the name of Ino, she seemed nice enough so she would be a safe one to ask, well that's what he assumed.

"Naruto? Well… I don't really know a lot about him, he has been in our class about two years I guess, he was nice enough at the start but the second week he got into a fight with Sasuke, he punched him right in the nose! He was suspended for a week, after that any time people tried to talk to him; he would just look away from them or shout at them to go away, he is a bit of a weirdo really, I know you sit beside him and all, but if I were you, I would ignore him"

Sai only nodded to the girl, she seemed to be telling the truth, but it didn't really tell him much about what was going on, the only information he really got out of it was that Naruto got into a fight with Sasuke before he started acting 'weird'. There was only one thing he could do.

Sasuke ate lunch in the courtyard, he was usually alone, and today was no exception, Sai came up behind him and asked in a low voice " Sasuke, May I have a word with you?" The Uchiha didn't even look up, he just murmered " what is it new boy?" Sai moved closer to him and spoke clearer. " I want to know what You and Naruto fought about when he first joined the school."

Sai did not see the movement, but soon found his shirt gripped and a pair of dark eyes glaring at him, Sasuke pushed Sai back in a violent movement forcing the boy to the ground, Sai looked up in slight horror as the Uchiha boy almost shouted down at him

"Have you been talking to Naruto?! What has he said to you?!"

Sai only managed to shake his head before he received a foot to his stomach, Sasuke kicked him a few times before leaning over the other boy.

"You stay away from him, do you hear me! Naruto is nothing but trouble to you, your not to go near him again"

Sai was more confused then ever, and was left to ponder that reaction as Sasuke left him were he lay.

Naruto was to come to his house at the next day, perhaps he could ask him about it then.


	2. Th problem with relations

Dance lessons were not getting any better, Naruto had come over at the weekend, but he was not being very helpful this round, he reverted back to the mop and protested against Sai's attempts to draw him to his feet.

That night was not any better, Naruto lay out his futon as far away from Sai's as he could, he had not spoken to him during the meal and the silence was starting to become annoying.

"What has gotten into you Naruto"

"……." Naruto just unfurled his covers and began to straighten his pillow.

"Why wont you talk to me?" Sai took the five strides across the room and griped to Naruto's arm, forcing him to face him, Naruto placed a hand to the others stomach and Sai visibly flinched.

" I will show you how to dance Sai, That's all, don't ask to many questions about me, I don't want you getting hurt" Naruto got beneath his covers then and turned away from the dark haired boy once again.

Sai was left frowning over him, it was clear that he was not going to get anymore out of the blond, he retreated to his own bed. It was frustrating just to lay there and not say anything, so he indignantly turned to face him once again

"I am not afraid of Sasuke you know, he just, he caught me off guard" He said this as he sat up, placing his hands over his knees in a relaxed way. " You know… I know kung fu"

Naruto stirred and then gave him a side long glace and shook his head. "if you knew kung fu, you would be a better dancer, good night Sai, we can continue in the morning, then I will go home"

Sai had hoped that would work, but there was nothing more said, so reluctantly he also settled to sleep.

--

The next morning he found himself waking from strange dreams, he was running from a mop haired Sasuke with Naruto shouting 'Use your kung fu!!' only to run into to Tenten wearing a princess gown and a sash.

The sweat was still on his brow as he entered the kitchen, His Auntie was in full conversation and to his surprise, so was Naruto.

"Really? I haven't done that since I was a little girl, I could never get the beam though" his aunt said it and Sai suddenly had horrible images of his auntie in lycra, not pleasant. Naruto was sitting with his back turned to the door.

"Yeah the beam was hard, but it was not as bad as when I had to learn Canoeing, being trapped in a turned over boat is not my idea of fun, but my guardian thought it would teach me… 'a life lesson in survival skills' I think she was secretly hoping I would drown"

'Why would she want you to drown?" As Sai asked the question Naruto choked on the cereal that he was eating. It took him a moment to compose himself before he stood to face the dark haired fellow.

"Are you ready, we should start early to get this over with" That said Naruto started for the basement, Sai looked at his Aunt, who appeared as confused as he was. Grabbing some fruit and a glass of apple juice, Sai the followed the blond below.

" Okay Sai, I want you to practice the turns again, but this time hold the mop" Sai sprang at Naruto and cover his mouth with his hands and then shifted his glance from side to side..

"Naruto… I think the mop is trying to kill me… I can't dance with it" He said this whilst glaring at the offending cleaning instrument.

Naruto removed his hand and looked at him with an expression close to exasperation and amusement.

"I know what your trying to do Sai, and it wont work, I am not dancing with you again, last time… it just felt weird. And you fell over. And besides, your not a girl, so you need to learn how to guide as a guy, not be guided as a girl, so that's out"

"Then how about I lead you!" Sai said and he griped to the others hands " and if I step on you, you can… you can give me the mop again!"

Naruto frowned and took a deep breath, just like he had before, it almost felt like a defeat now that sai was really paying attention to it.

"Alright… but your not holding my hand right, your back needs to be straighter, and your elbow higher, you place your hand between my shoulder blades, not to the mid of my back, raise your chin, and hold that form as we are moving" Naruto barked out the orders without looking at him and with each word Sai felt a warmth flowing through his body, a bubbly feeling of victory

"And Don't think this means you have won, I am only doing this to stop you complaining at me, the more you whine at me, the more delayed I am!" Naruto Said it as he gripped Sai's hand tight. "on three"

It turned out Sai was not as good at being lead as he was at being led, Naruto squawked in pain for the umpteenth time and once again Sai apologized. The mop did not get to see the dance floor though and he was gradually getting better, either that or Naruto's feet were getting numb and he could not feel it anymore.

Three hours later Sai found himself being guided around a turn, his aunt had brought down a player so they would have music to dance to, it helped, but with Naruto leading him through the steps, it seemed to work much better then when he was lead. His arm pushed back and his spine bent as Naruto lead him to the final dip, The dance was finished, but the music kept playing,

Naruto's hand slipped lower on Sai's back and he lent in closer, Sai could feel his heart hammering in his chest, and he audibly swallowed as he shifted his weight to keep his balance this time. It felt like hours, just looking into eyes of pure azure, and just like he felt in the class room, he found himself frozen, trapped by his gaze.

"That's enough" Naruto straightened him and walked away. Sai could only stand there and follow the movements of The blond as he picked up his towel to wipe the sweat off.

" I have to go home now Sai. We have one more weekend before the dance, I can't come over during the week… I have things I have to do"

Those words seemed to snap him out of his reverie " What things? I can help you, come on were friends right?"

Naruto whirled around on him, he got so close that Sai could feel his breath upon his lips, there was something about the way he was looking at him, it was wild, but scared " We are not friends Sai, I am showing you to dance, nothing more, After this we will have nothing more to do with each other! You got that!"

And once more Sai watched Naruto's retreating back. There was definitely something wrong. But if Sai could not ask questions, he was never going to find out. He climbed the stairs to the kitchen and his Aunt looked at him.

"Did you and your friend have a fight?" She asked him as she peeled another carrot for the soup she was preparing

Sai shook his head and lent to the counter "no not really, its kind of weird, it feels like he is afraid to get close to people, Auntie, How are you supposed to get close to a person, that keeps pushing you away?"

Sai's Aunt placed the vegetable to the table and lay her blade beside it. She said nothing for a moment, only looked at Sai as though contemplating something.

"Sai. Do you remember when you first came to live with me? You kept shutting yourself in the room we picked for you, refusing to come out to talk to me, or play with any of the children on the road. Back then, you kept saying things like ' I don't want any friends' or ' I never wanted you to take care of me' But I knew you were just afraid of getting close to someone, after your parents had passed away, all I could do was wait till you were ready to talk to me, of course, constant pestering helped me too"

Sai looked up at her and smiled, it was true, he had grown introverted after his parents died, he rejected affection and even went so far as to reject his own feelings, he remembered how bad he had felt, like everything he wanted to get close to, might disappear, just like his mom and dad had… But with Naruto, it felt different.

"I don't know, I think he wants to get close to people Auntie, but there is something holding him back, I just don't know what it is yet… but I am going to try to find out"

--

The road was quiet and the air was calm, it sounded like a Sunday should, and it felt like a Sunday should too, Naruto could hear the children that lived beside him playing, and he looked into the yard as he passed. Upon seeing him they scurried away to hide behind a tree. It wasn't surprising to him and he just ignored it. He was well used to the children reacting that way. It was not really their fault anyway.

He reached up to the lock on his front door, he had to jiggle the key because he knew that the door jammed if he didn't. A musty smell greeted him and he could hear the telly blaring in the sitting room. It had to be his guardian, Mairu.

Naruto slipped off his jacket and placed his bag to the floor, he peeked into the room to see her sitting there, he said nothing and began to walk as quietly as he could up the stairs, but before he could reach the second step, a voice halted him.

"You didn't come home last night. Where were you, I know you didn't go to the library like you said you were, and I doubt it lets people stay over night. Were you staying over with a friend from class? I told you about that before, about how you…"

"I wasn't doing anything" Naruto interjected " I was walking home, and felt like staying out. That's all. Besides, you made it perfectly clear to me already that I am not allowed to have friends."

"That's right, your not" The woman said it calmly and then smiled softly placing a hand to Naruto's cheek "It's not like you need anyone else is it? Now get cleaned up, you have tai-chi classes in three hours and I am not about to drive you"

Mairu rarely went out of the house, all she seemed to do was sit around and boss him about, Naruto was convinced she only looked after him because she got to live off his dowry till he turned eighteen, well only two years to go!

Naruto had not always lived like this. He had actually been a rather normal kid a few years ago. He and his parents planned to move to the area barely two years past, he had enrolled into the school and they all seemed set to be happy enough, but on the day they were set to move in. His parents never arrived to the house. A search was done for them, but they never turned up.

A month Later Mairu was assigned as his guardian, being his closest relative on his mother's side, she was like a second cousin or something, she was barely 3 years older then him, but she was still classed as old enough to be a guardian. She used visit them a lot when he was younger. He had never really liked her back then, and he really disliked her now.

As he closed the door to his room and pulled off his socks, he began to wonder, as he had many times in the last years, what could have happened to his parents? Nothing was ever found of them, not even the car they had been driving. Naruto remembered asking to go in the delivery van. He had been so excited about it. But now… now he just regretted not going with his parents, maybe if he had been there…

A loud banging came to his door "Are you ready yet? If you're late people will start asking questions! If I have another person at this door because of you I swear!"

Naruto opened the door and glared at her. "I get it, I'm going" with nothing to eat he left the house, he had not had time to change, but he took fresh clothing with him. Naruto knew what most people thought of him, he even thought Mairu believed it. People were blaming his parent's disappearance on him, saying he had had problems as a child, that's why they moved. So Naruto had to behave. He had to stay quiet, and he had to make sure not to draw attention on himself. Mairu reminded him of that almost every day.

He forced his arms back through the sleeves of his coat and closed the door with a soft click. He had three classes to go to today, first was tai-chi, then he had archery two hours after that, and finally he had gymnastics. In each class he went under a different name, he asked Mairu about it once, and she just told him to shut his pie hole and let her do the thinking for them. His school was the only place where he actually kept his real name, and that was only because his parents had registered him.

He began the walk to town and took a deep breath. If Mairu found out he was staying over at Sai's house, he was not sure what she would do, so he decided to keep it a secret, that way, no one would get hurt.


	3. Cracking the ice

**Chapter 3**

'Alright class settle down"

The white haired drama teacher that was stricken with a constant case of flu, (or so it seemed as he was never seen without a mask on) spoke to his class without much muster. The room was buzzing and no one seemed to notice him as he strode to the center of the noise with a pair of dusters in his hands.

One powered class later and silence had descended, giving the now smug looking teacher its full attention

'Now class, we have to decide on a theme for the spring dance, as you all know, it falls onto our heads if anything goes wrong for the seniors, we need to make this as special a time for them as we possibly can, as it will be the last year they will spend in this school and we need to make it a memorable time for them" it would have been a nice sentiment if he sounded like he meant any of it. "Anyone with valid ideas please raise your hands. No Kiba, we are not having a swimwear theme"

An energetic youth that had waved his hand in the air put it back to the table with a distinct pout and a few of the girls giggled, That left Three hands raised, Sakura, A tall brown haired fellow by the name of Cham, and Naruto.

The teacher Stared at Naruto's hand for a while, before looking to Sakura and pointing to her first.

"I propose we have a Hawaiian setting, we could spend the rest of the week making leis and our refreshments could be exotic fruits"

"YEAH! And coconut shell bikinis!"

"No Kiba" Sakura interjected "The outfits do not only consist of what they show on television"

" Is that your full suggestion" The sullen teacher asked while giving her a look that told her he didn't really care what they did as long as something was decided so he could go back to reading his book and letting the class teach itself.

Sakura nodded and he pointed at Naruto.

"Alright broody boy" The class left out a giggle but fell silent as a duster was once more raised "Let's hear your idea so the class can reject it and go with Sakura's"

Naruto's chair screeched as he stood, he was never one for making announcements, but something stuck in his head and it wanted out, also he had another reason for it, he let his gaze fall on Sai, if only for a moment before he looked into the deadened eyes of his teacher

"My idea Hatake sensei" Naruto shuffled and took a deep breath, Sai had seen him do it before, and it clicked with him, Naruto did this to find some courage "Why not have the dance set in a Victorian style? The girls would get to wear big Victorian dresses, and the guys would wear tail coat suits, we could learn dances and, well, there are lots of foods that could be used for the refreshments… and its kinda cold around our spring… so, with the outfits… well… it was just an idea"

Naruto's words trailed away at the end and sat back down and withdrew into himself, the truth was, if they did anything else, Sai would not know the right dances, What Naruto didn't realize was most of the class was staring at him.

Cham then stood and recited his Idea, he suggested futuristic with leather suits and Jedi outfits, this also went down well with Kiba, who was told he was a duster away from detention

"Alright class" The apathetic teacher leant to his desk and gazed over the class "We can go with Sakura's idea of flouncing around in grassy skirts while drinking out of pineapples, or broody boy's idea of fancy dress and fairytale dances, or Not important enough to put some thought into it boys starwars and bondage theme, we vote now"

All the class could vote, except those that gave ideas

"Sakura's"

Five people raised there hands to that

"Naruto's"

12 people's hands rose to the air

"And finally Cham's"

One hand rose, and it belonged to Kiba, who slowly put it down again.

"Alright, now that we have that out of the way, Sakura, I am sure you will veto being in the class committee so I suppose you should start working on your leis class"

Sakura stood up, looked to Naruto, and then to Sasuke who had been staring at her.

"I Actually like Naruto's idea more Kakashi sensei"

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

After break was English, the class had been a buzz with ideas on what they would be wearing, and were they would get there outfits from, half of the fun of it, was the short notice, it made it harder for the well off people to have things specially made for them, so everyone had an equal chance.

Naruto had his book open and was scanning a page when a note was passed to him, he looked at it for a moment and then looked around to see if anyone was looking at him

"_Thank you"_

That was all the note said, but Naruto shook his head and scribbled a reply

"_You're not meant to be talking to me in school, that was the deal"_

He put it to the pasty boys table and got one sent back almost right away

"_I'm not, I am writing to you, there is a difference"_

Naruto could not help the smile and set to writing once more

"_Now you're just being picky"_

"_Well I am right, so I am not breaking any agreement"_

"_I will send you to the janitor's closet to study if you're not careful"_

"_I would not mind getting some studying done after school"_

It was as Naruto opened the last note that a loud cough from the front of the class set him Jumping

"Read it out Uzumaki"

Naruto's eyes shot around the room, this was the second time he had to stand in front of people and he went visibly red this time

"It says… I… would not mind getting some Studying done after school…"

The Woman huffed and strode up to his seat and stared at the paper, then she stared at him, then to the paper again…

"Well, I can't really give out to you for that, but, No more notes in my class, that applies to you also Sai"

Naruto smiled and the change in his features was astounding, it was enough to get more then a few of the girls staring at him, Sai's head was down, but his shoulders were shaking, and Naruto punched him on his arm, hard enough to have Sai clinging to it mouthing 'ow'

Naruto spent the rest of the class trying not to smile, once recess came he followed after Sai

"I will kill you!"

"I thought I was not meant to be talking to you?"

"Your not, so shut up and die silently"

Sai laughed and walked to a small wall, firmly sitting down to it, patting the space beside him, while untying the string from his bento box. Naruto sat behind him and lent to his back, he smiled looking up at the clouds

"You know… it's been a while since I felt like this"

Sai looked at the assorted foods in his box and murmured "like what? Happy?"

Naruto just continued looking up "I suppose so yeah, I don't really get along with people here, so I suppose happy is a good enough term for what I am feeling"

Sai poked at one of his eggs "I don't really get why you don't get along with people, most of the class seem nice enough…"

Naruto shrugged and took a breath " I dunno, a few days after joining here I was told my cousin would be looking after me, I guess I wasn't the nicest person to be around at the time, Also I have these weird birthmarks on my face… that could be the reason?"

Sai looked back at the blond "And that's why they bully you?"

"Well it's the only reason I can think of"

Sai shook his head as he raised some noodles "I really don't think that's a good enough reason you know"

Naruto smiled and shrugged his shoulders again "it doesn't really matter anyway, it's not like it matters."

Sai frowned and looked at his lunch "You know… one of the girls in there, Ino she said that you used to smile a lot at the start, but then you had a fight with Sasuke."

Sai could feel Naruto tense up, and soon he was left without a back rest.

"I should go get my lunch. We can talk later Sai"

The change in Naruto had been nice, but at the mention of Sasuke the walls that had come down, went right back up again, Sai silently cursed himself for mentioning it, and went about finishing his lunch.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Going back into the class room, Sai found himself looking right into the eyes of the class president, Sasuke had a set face on him and Sai thought about turning around just to avoid looking at him

"What do you think you're playing at?"

Sai looked genuinely confused, he looked over his shoulder and then back to the boy in front of him "I don't really know what you're talking about…"

Sasuke slammed his hand on the table and glared at Sai

"Naruto, don't play ignorant! I told you to stay away from him didn't I?

Sai was not confrontational as it stood, but there was something about how this boy was acting that got his back up "Oh I remember you saying as much, but I decided not to listen to you"

He was ready for the fist that came swinging for him, and he evaded it with a clumsy grace that nearly set him falling over a table

"What is he to you anyway, it's not like you can order people not to be his friend"

"I can't but…" The door opened behind them and the pink haired committee member entered, Sakura looked at them both before walking to her desk saying nothing. Sai followed suit and returned to his desk. But he was staring at Sasuke till more people entered

Naruto didn't talk to him for the rest of the day. And he didn't smile either.


	4. A Smile can make All the difference

Chapter 4

It was the last day before the weekend, Naruto got ready to go to school; he had a grin plastered to his face that he could not get to back down.

Since Sai had joined what barely three weeks ago, he had successfully befriended Naruto, Made him laugh in school, and got them both sent to detention, and made other people start talking to him.

Naruto was placing a strap over his shoulder as he grinned to the thoughts of Ino gripping his hand and dragging him away from Sai saying that Tenten would be out for his blood if she knew how close he had gotten to the boy.

Just thinking of Tenten made him laugh really hard as he pictured the scene that happened yesterday at luch, Sai being dragged aside by the older girl and forced to feed her from his bento box. Naruto couldn't tell what had changed in him, but something clearly had.

He opened the door to his room to look right into eyes that narrowed as they met his. Mairu was glaring at him, she was only slightly taller then Naruto, but there was something altogether menacing about the way she blocked his path with her hands on her hips.

"You're very cheerful this morning"

Naruto felt a chill pass over his shoulders, and the smile he had been struggling to erase now faded like a distant memory, He made a move to walk past Mairu but she blocked him.

"I have to go to School…"

"Yes, that's what's bothering me. You are never happy to go to school. You're hiding something from me."

"It's nothing, were just getting to dance today. You know I like dancing, that's the only reason…"

Naruto couldn't look her in the eyes as he said it, but it seemed to be enough to let him pass, when he was at the bottom of the stairs he heard her shuffle into her room and close the door. Readjusting the bag upon his shoulders he took a step out the door, closing it firmly behind him

--

Sai was not impressed.

In fact not impressed was an understatement, his self appointed girlfriend was now parading him about the school like her personal toy. What's worse, he was also carrying all her possessions and having to appease her with endearing remarks and compliments on every aspect she pointed out about herself. It was Tiring and entirely not worth it, yet there was something about her that terrified him into submission. He could not express his relief more when Naruto appeared in front of him and gave a weary look to Tenten.

"Uh… the teacher wants to see you…"

Books where shoved to the girls midriff and Sai went running before she could protest

"How long have you been wandering around the school like that?"

"Has to be more then an hour, I got here early cause Aunt Enma asked if I could drop her keys to her, she left them behind and needed to open the shop"

Naruto stopped and looked at him.

"What shop?"

Sai smiled and shrugged. Before continuing walking

"She helps in a bakery in town, she opens shop and prepares the ovens, she only does mornings, so it's ideal for her… Why do you ask?"

"I just never imagined her as the working type… I dunno… Oh yeah that reminds me, I am taking you into town today"

Sai opened the door to the classroom; he was looking back at Naruto when he entered so he did not see what was coming at him

"Going to Town but…Uff!"

Sai walked right into a table that was being pushed aside by a quiet boy named Shino, Naruto didn't expect the sudden stop and collided into Sai's back, sending them both sprawling over the surface.

Laughter erupted as the two, now very red boys scurried away into a corner. Sakura was now looking at them like they had offended her personally, she then marched over to Sai and glared at him, she cast a look to Naruto and then turned her direction back to Sai again.

"You're late, I need you to help clear the floor, the tables need to be stacked and the chairs all folded"

"Alright… Come on Naruto"

Sakura's brow furrowed deeply as she watched Naruto smile and follow him, this did not make any sense to her, Naruto had always snapped at them or ignored anyone who tried to make a connection to him, and this boy just shows up and its like a whole different person took Naruto's place, Her green eyes trained on the blond, she did not even notice that she was staring, till another girl in her class named Karin spoke beside her.

"It's weird isn't it"

"Yeah…"

"You remember when Naruto first got here? He was like he is now, only better I guess. It was like really weird when he detached himself from everyone."

Sakura stopped looking at Naruto as Sai pushed him into a girl named Hinata, the girl in question going wide eyed and blushing redder then a ripe strawberry. She gave Karin a questioning look and then sighed before turning her head to see how everything else was going.

"You know Karin… I am tired trying to figure out how boys think…"

"You can say that again, but he does have a cute smile. Maybe if Sai can train him to be nicer, I might go for him."

Sakura whipped her head around to her friend and snorted.

"What! I thought you were going to ask Sasuke out!"

Karin frowned and went a bit red herself…

"Yeah… well… that's not going to work out"

Karin Strode over and promptly punched Sai in the arm and shouted at him to apologize to Naruto and Hinata; Sakura watched the interaction before looking over to Sasuke. If looks could kill Sai and Naruto would be dead ten times over with the look they were receiving from him. Sakura frowned again and was about to walk over to ask what was wrong, but the class door closing behind her stalled her action.

The drama teacher walk in, in his usual meandering way, she watched as he strode to his desk and lent to it with legs crossed in front of him.

"Alright class, settle down… Apparently I am meant to teach you how to waltz…"

--

The class was structured so they had one hour warm up, two hours lesson, one hour break, and then practice time when they got back, Meaning Kakashi would sit at the top of the room while the students did whatever they wanted.

Sai was paired of with Sakura, the class were being shown the basic stances, badly. Sai already knew what to do so he was pretty much left alone, he moved through the steps with Sakura, trying not to look at her. He had not spoken to her since the first day, so now to have been paired off with her was rather uncomfortable.

Just before the dance was about to finish Sakura spoke to him, though it was in a soft tone.

"How did you do it?"

Sai drew his attention away from there linked hands to look at her

"Do what?"

"Do that" she made a motion with her head over to Naruto who was looking down on Karin who had for the third time slipped and was making a big deal about him needing to help her up "with Naruto… How did you get him to break out of his shell?"

Sai looked at Naruto for a moment and then smiled softly

"I remember what it was like to be alone, so I guess I can relate to him…"

The dance stopped leaving Sakura to stare at Sai while Kakashi corrected people's forms.

Sakura held her head down and then looked off to the side

"I don't really understand…"

"Sakura, I don't think anyone can, unless they have felt the same loss as he did. Just try to be a little nicer to him, no one likes to be called names; even if they don't seem to get upset about it, it really hurts"

Sai broke apart from her to be replaced by Kiba, there were more guys in the class then girls, so the guys had to take turns. Sai looked to Naruto as he tired to get away from Karin, unsuccessfully as she gripped to his hand and pleaded with him to show her again, punching poor Shikamaru in the face when he tried to say he had to dance with her next.

Naruto looked at Karin and then to Shikamaru, Karin fixed her glasses and then leered at Shikamaru

"I don't know the moves yet, and I need a big strong man like Naruto to show me, someone like you would be no substitute."

Shikamaru held his nose and shook his head, he walked away from her complaining about her being troublesome and not worth the effort, When Karin turned back to Naruto, he was suitably traumatized to take her hand again.

"Like this… No Karin... Don't put your hand there" Naruto for the third time replaced Karin's hand to his Shoulder, removing it from his lower regions "We have to keep a certain distance. Away... No Away"

Karin was not a good student, as she seemed to think away was closer and shoulder was Buttocks. After finally managing to get her into a dip, she hooked her arms about his neck, and Naruto was never happier to hear the bell sound for lunch. He practically dropped the girl and ran to Sai pulling him out by the hand

"I am never making another suggestion in class again. That girl is crazy"

"I think she likes you Naruto"

"In the two years I have been here she has never show any interest in me, why should she start now?"

Sai grinned and poked his side, Naruto punched him in the arm and laughed, his face lighting up all the more for it, a girl passing in the corridor actually smacked her shoulder of a door frame from looking at him, and this Naruto didn't even notice.

"I think I might have a small idea why…"

--

Naruto spent the rest of the day avoiding Karin, he along with Chouji, Sai and Sasuke, was asked to help in tutoring the rest of the class. Ino was sitting next to Sakura on a desk they had reclaimed from the wall; she was rubbing her abused foot that had been stood on three times by Shino

"Where do you think he learned to do that?"

Ino motioned over to Naruto as he showed Kiba the right starting position, and then moved over to Shikamaru. Sakura had been watching to, Naruto had never participated in anything before, so she was finding it hard not to have her focus drawn to him

"I have no idea, when it comes to it, none of us really know a lot about Naruto…"

"Looking at him now, you would never think that less then a month ago he was a secluded grump. He acting like he did when he joined the school"

Sakura smiled and then frowned, Sai's words were playing in her memory, she had never once tried to look at it from Naruto's point of view before, and now she could not help but think on the first weeks he had joined.

" Yeah... he was happy when he first came here, but then he realized he was alone… they never did find his mum and dad, I can remember my Mum telling me, that the police suspected him, but when they tried to arrest him, his cousin prevented it, something about him being a child and no evidence."

Ino looked at her with crystal blue eyes and then back to Naruto

"My Parents told me that he had been in a mental institution, and the marks on his face are from when he would claw at himself. That his parents tricked him and left him for his cousin to care for"

Sakura shook her head and then stood up smiling to Ino

"You know… I don't really care about all that stuff; maybe I will try to be a little nicer to him."

With that, the pink haired girl stood an joined them, she said something to Naruto, he smiled at her and lead her over to Cham, fixing there positions before starting to beat of a tune for them to follow.

--

_XDDD I know this looks like its not going anywhere, and the characters are all a little OC right now, but bare in mind, this is an AU setting, and different lifes make different people. Thank you everyone for your support and review so far, and I hope your enjoying my long winded way to get people to go to a dance - (next chapter comes some fluff, be warned)_


	5. finding comfort, Saying goodbye

Chapter 5

Sai had not stopped smiling since class had ended; Naruto was just walking beside him with his mouth firmly shut to Sai's questions. The dark haired fellow was grasping at straws, right now he was looking up into the sky. Watching the clouds (that were looking pretty ominous) when he came up with his next suggestion

"You're taking me to an illicit pawn broker that deals in young boys for the slave trade"

The blond grinned and shook his head "Nah, I wouldn't make much on you anyway, your to lazy and need to be babied through things"

"I do NOT!" Sai said it in a mock anger, grounding to a halt and folding his arms.

"Oh right…" Naruto turned to look at him and then shook his head "That's why I had to be your partner and be the lead for most our lessons"

Sai went red and then scrunched up his face "Well… You…"

Naruto laughed and beckoned him to keep going "Were nearly there"

--

Sai looked up at an unassuming house, He had told Sai to wait outside, that he just had to get something he had left behind, and he wouldn't be long, but as Naruto approached the door, it opened.

The woman standing at the door could not have been that old, she was slightly taller then Naruto, she was slim, had a rich copper color to her hair, but her eyes were startling, the same blue of Naruto's, only when they looked over to him, they were sharp, there was something about them that made him a little nervous. At least till she smiled.

"Naruto! You never told me you were bringing a friend home!" Her voice was like a bell, and seemed pleasant enough, but Sai could not help but notice Naruto's shoulders tensing, Sai began to walk up the short path to the front door, he was looking at Naruto, and then to his girl.

"My Name is…"

"Sai, I know, Naruto has told me all about you, though he has not shared what you were doing on the weekend… Care to enlighten me Sai?"

Naruto's jaw had dropped and he had gone pale, He could not see how she could have known his name, let alone that he was with Sai on the weekend. Sai however seemed un-phased.

"Nothing really, I needed a dance instructor, sort of roped Naruto into it. This is the last weekend before the dance though, Naruto seems to think we need something in town, a bit of a waste of my time really, but who am I to complain? After all, I suppose I am lucky enough to have someone teach me… even if it is Naruto. No offense, but we don't really get along to well."

Mairu's eyebrow lifted slightly, she had not expected that answer, Sai however just smiled stoically, looking right into her eyes as she continued to examine him, She then turned to Naruto.

"Alright, you go get what you need, I take it you wont be home tonight, should I expect you tomorrow?"

Naruto, who had been staring at Sai for a moment, turned his gaze to his cousin. His eyes had lost the shocked look and returned to the nonchalant gaze she was used to seeing.

"I will head to my classes from Sai's house… I will be home after them"

Only then, did Mairu clear a path for Naruto to enter, shifting her hip so that she was leaning to the door frame, Naruto moved past her and she flicked her hair over her shoulder as he moved up the stairs

"So… Sai, How long have you and Naruto been friends?" Her gaze not concentrated on Sai as she said it, she was looking up the stairs, as though she could see Naruto even through the walls, Sai could only think of one word for it. Creepy.

"Well. I wouldn't say we are friends…" He kept recalling Naruto's insistence that they could not be friends after this, and for him to have been talking about him to Mairu, and the reaction of Naruto when Mairu said his name… something just did not add up… "But you have not told me your name, are you and Naruto related?

Mairu brought her sight back around to peer at Sai; she did not turn her head, just gazed at him from the corner of her eyes.

"My name is Mairu; I am unfortunately enough, Naruto's cousin. I could have sworn you two were friends, just from how comfortable you are with him."

Sai smiled and linking his hands behind his back, he then shifted his weight from one leg to the other.

"Well I am an easy going person, I can not say Naruto is the same, though I did try to befriend him, he did not seem taken with the idea, insisting that he would teach me the steps I need to know, and that would be the end of it. I have to admit, I do feel a bit sorry for him… but I can not force my way into his life."

Mairu smiled softly and then lent into him for a moment "Trust me, your better off not knowing Naruto. It only ever ends in trouble."

Before Sai could question that statement, Naruto was back at the door; he pushed past Mairu and looked to Sai

"Let's go"

They were the only words spoken between the two for a long time, even standing at the bus stop there was silence, Naruto kept looking over his shoulder as they were walking, and it was only as they were getting off the bus that he spoke again.

"What did she say to you?"

"Nothing much, just asking how long we had been friends, things like that"

"What did you say?"

"I said we weren't friends, that you only wanted to teach me dancing, and nothing more then that" Sai gripped to the blonds hand and forced him to turn and look to him.

"Naruto, what is going on? I don't really understand why it is so bad to be your friend. I know I denied it and all, but that was… well you were so adamant before about us not being friends, it seemed like the right thing to do at the time. But seriously I don't see how…"

Naruto placed a finger to the others lips, and it effectively silenced him. Naruto didn't speak for a while, but just walked on; he seemed to be thinking about something.

"Sai, you know, the only place I get to use my real name, is in school, everywhere else I have a different name. I don't know why it is, and I never got an answer when I asked. Recently whenever I would make a new friend, something bad would always happen to them, and then it would be blamed on me. I don't want to make new friends, because I have to stay out of trouble. If something were to happen to you…"

Sai did not know what to say. It was all a bit… incredulous. He followed Naruto once more in silence, this time it was his turn to think. Hadn't Sasuke said something similar? Only at the time Sai had thought it was something that he would do to him, but then there was that moment in the class._"I can't but…"_ … but what? Someone else could? That was stupid.

They were turning into an old fashioned building; Sai rounded the corner and bid Naruto to a halt.

"Naruto. I am not afraid to be your friend. I like you, I am not about to give you up for something that may or may not happen. Just trust me, okay?"

"Sai…"

"Peter!"

Naruto whipped his head around to see a lively young red head bounding his way; she stopped in front of him and then looked at Sai.

"So this is the boy you told me about, well I have them ready for you. The director stressed that nothing should happen to them. Also I need to know the girls waist size. I have to say, you must have pulled some strings to get him to agree to letting you borrow them."

Naruto shrugged and then smiled in a hollow way

"Nothing much Susan, I just finally agreed to play Puke in 'a mid summer nights dream' and Karen… I would say she is a 30 inch waist. 38 hip, not that that matters, and she has about a 38 to bust."

Sai frowned and then laughed. Susan frowned for a moment and then bid them to follow her. Sai nudged Naruto and mouthed 'your taking Karen to the dance?'

Naruto grinned and nodded mouthing back 'She is terrifyingly forward'

Susan lead them both into a props room, there two suits were hanging already, each had name tags upon them, Naruto followed Susan along the lines of clothing, and Sai marveled at the area he was in.

There were so many costumes, it was amazing, it was clear to see that Naruto was part of this drama group, though judging from the fact that he had to be bribed into playing a main part, he possibly didn't take part so much, but he must be good to warrant a bribe.

Naruto was coming back with a dress bag in his arms and he was smiling, Susan was pulling on his arm.

"Peter, do the lines! I will play the fairy!"

Naruto looked at her dubiously

"Please?" The girl was pleading and Sai found a dress bundles into his arms. Naruto hoped atop a chair on foot atop the back of it, he raised his hand so it peaked his eyes and he made as though to search for something

"How now spirit! Whiter wander you?"

Susan danced on her spot and began reciting, though in a stiff manor

"Over hill. Over dale, Thorough bush. Thorough brier, Over park, over pale, thorough flood, thorough fire, I do wander everywhere. Swifter then the moon's sphere; And I serve the fairy Queen. To dew her orbs upon the green, the cowslips tell her pensioners be: In their gold coats spots you see; those be rubies, fairy favours, in those freckles live their savours; I must go seek some dew drops here, and hand a pearls in every cowslip's ear. Farewell, thou lob of spirits; I'll be gone: Our queen and all her elves come here anon."

Naruto tilted the chair so to land in a drop before the girl, Sai noticed how red she went as he lent in close to her, lowering his voice as though he was bidding her warning, his voice became like silk and Sai found his breath had stilled as he listened to the poetry Naruto spoke as though it was his everyday speak.

"The king doth keep his revels here to-night;

Take heed the Queen come not within his sight.

For Oberon is passing fell and wrath, A because that she,

as her attendant, hath A lovely boy, stol'n from an Indian king;

She never had so sweet a challenging:

And jealous Oberon would have the child,

Knight of his train, to trace the forests wild:

But she perforce withholds the loved boy,

Crowns him with flowers, and makes him all her joy:

And now they never meet in grove or green,

By fountain clear, or spangled starlight sheen,

But they do square; that all their elves for fear,

creep into acorn cups, and hide them there."

Susan's face was a blank, and Naruto took a step away from her, Sai swallowed loudly and then made an attempt at applause, though with a dress in his hand it was not so much an ovation as a muffled clap.

Naruto turned to look at him and smiled brightly before pointing a finger towards Sai and grinning in a near evil manor

"And you good Sir.

Should any word escape from thy lips pertaining to this night,

I would bid thee Sir to flee hence from my sight,

This favor that I offer you, it harbors malcontent.

For if one word you speak on it, I shall see your life be spent"

Sai laughed slightly nervously and then whispered to Naruto.. "What does that mean?" Naruto grinned and whispered back "tell anyone about this and I will kill you!"

--

Aunt Enma threw her keys to the side counter, she knew Sai and Naruto would be back by now, so she was not to put off by the noise coming from the sitting room, at least until she heard what was being said.

"Stop Naruto, it hurts"

"Just a little more"

"It's too tight"

"There is no point if it doesn't go in all the way"

"But it hurts"

"You're just not used to it Sai if you just…"

Naruto looked up from what he was doing to meet the shocked and slightly reddened face of Sai's auntie, she had rushed to the door and was clinging to the frame, Naruto let go of the shirt he had been tucking in and let Sai turn around to greet his Auntie.

"I feel like a right twat in this"

Enma laughed (in somewhat relief) and moved toward Sai, admiring the period clothing he was now dressed in.

"Where did you get these?"

"Naruto got them."

Naruto who was dressed in a light grey suit (which he had gotten into very easily mind) smiled to Sai's auntie and then held out a black tail coat for Sai to put on over a waist coat that was still open, Sai's pants were high in the front, and with the shirt tucked into them, he was finding it all a little uncomfortable.

"I really don't see how this is necessary"

Naruto sighed and flopped down on an armchair

"Hey, if you don't want princess Tenten to win this popularity contest, that's fine with me. Just hope you're alright with that"

"And just how will me being uncomfortable help her win?"

"Sai, it's not just about how you dance, its about how you look, the costume you get, the effort you put in. Tenten always takes the prettiest boys to this thing. It was Sasuke last year, but she lost out to Neji and Sumei. Because Sasuke was not prepared to wear feathers in his hair"

"Feathers?"

"it was a cowboys and Indians theme last year"

"What did you go as?"

"I didn't"

"Then how did you…?"

"Everyone knows about it, if Tenten looses she lets the world and its dog know about how it was in no way her fault, as she is perfect. Anyway, button up, you have to get used to moving in this, I am going to show you one more set tonight, and tomorrow we can relax, okay?"

Sai frowned but did as he was told, following Naruto down to the basement. The set he was learning was an easy one, though one not covered in class. Naruto told Sai that he was giving him an unfair advantage, and he should use it in the best way possible. In other words, he should teach the moves to Tenten during the week.

The basic move was that the couple would be circling each other, hands linked high over there heads. They would split and then turn in co-ordinance, switching partners as they did so, Naruto told Sai not to worry, as he would show Karen the dance also, so it would work. At the end they would bow to each other, and then draw close. And so the dance was complete.

Sai was a little slow on the turns, and he sometimes mixed up his feet crossing, but all in all, he was passable. They danced in there outfits for an hour, and then a further two hours out of costume. A light sweat had broken out on Naruto's brow, but a heavy one was upon Sai's.

Naruto looked to him as he stood bent over, with hands to his knees, heaving heavy breaths. He then clapped a hand to his shoulder and almost sent him flying.

"I think that is enough for today Sai. You pretty much have it. It took me a while to learn this dance; you did great to pick it so quickly"

Sai just smiled and straightened up a bit, it was getting late, and already the smells of supper drifted down to greet them.

--

Supper had been short, as had the time in front of the television. Sai was tired, as was Naruto. Naruto had been the first to shower, and was now waiting in the room while Sai was washing.

He looked out the window, a storm had picked up, it was raining heavily, Naruto hated the rain, something inside him repulsed to it, the electricity in the storm however thrilled his skin. Making the hairs stand on end. He lent back against Sai's bed, staring out the window. So lost in thought, that he did not feel the other boy climbing onto the bed behind him.

It was not until Sai was leaning over Naruto, did the other look up, his gaze was heavy lidded, but at the same time it was alert. Sai lent a little closer to him before he whispered

"I guess this is the last night you will be staying over huh?"

Naruto opened his mouth to speak, but the words he should have spoken, formed a hard knot in his gullet, wishing not to be uttered, He found himself looking into Sai's dark eyes, and the world seemed to be drowning around him.

He felt his body shifting. Turning so he was now facing Sai. He felt his hands gripping over the other boys. He felt his torso lifting. Pushing him upwards and closer to Sai. He felt these things happening, and had no control over it. And even as he dreaded what was coming. He knew there was nothing he could do to prevent it.

He felt it, the knot released the moment they met. A Burning sensation replaced the hard cold tension from before. Naruto pressed his lips to Sai's. It was the last night they would be spending together like this. After this, Naruto would have to let him go. He would have to.

But Part of him. Part of him wanted this boy more then he would ever admit to. Sai, however, seemed to be shocked, he did not pull away, but nor did he lean into the kiss he had received. And on his part, he felt the idiot for being unable to respond.

Naruto broke the kiss and sat back, looking away before he could read anything from Sai's face. He could not tell what had come over him to take such action. But now a wave of regret was washing over him.

"Naruto…"

Naruto stood and moved to his own bed in silence, not looking back. He felt Sai getting up, heard him moving towards him. But still he did not turn around, afraid of what he might see.

Sai however, gripped Naruto's shoulder turning him. He placed a hand to the blond boys cheek and lay a soft kiss upon his lips. Naruto's shoulders eased, and he sank into the kiss that was given to him. There was no heat to it, no passion. It was just comfortable. It was a memory they were creating. They both knew it.

As lips parted, so too did the boys, each going to their beds in silence. It was a week to the dance. But the last night they would spend like this. Tomorrow Naruto would leave early. And for the rest of the week Sai would have to teach Tenten the moves she needed to learn.

As Sai lay in his bed, he felt a cold pain in his chest, and he felt as though his world was crashing down around him. For though he knew he would see Naruto in school, and though they would talk. He also knew he would never again have him like he had in that moment.

It almost felt like he was saying goodbye.

* * *

_Lord! I had forgotten how much I love Shakespeare!!! And ye olde English!! Fun times!! _

_This chapter will be a bit long, tell me what you think guys? Should I break it into two different ones?_

_Also, am I moving to fast? let me know what you think. please. _


	6. From one thing to Another

Chapter 6

Naruto woke up earlier then Sai, he had spent a good deal of time looking to the boy as he was sleeping. What Naruto had done last night was against his better judgment, and having Sai return the affection did nothing to ease his heart. Quite the opposite in fact. Naruto felt a pang of longing, he was longing for this life, a life where he could befriend people, choose whomever he wished to be his partner, just to be happy.

But the thoughts of his cousin stirred into his mind. Mairu had known about Sai. Even though Naruto had said nothing to her, she had known where he was, and the name of the person he was with. The blond swallowed hard and looked away from the pale boy. He had to end this… this whatever it was before it went too far.

Upon dressing himself and gathering his things, Naruto made his way downstairs. Sai's auntie was preparing breakfast, on seeing Naruto she gave a huge smile, one that then faded slightly as she realized he was going.

"You're not staying for something to eat?"

"I am afraid I can't, I have to get to Karen's house this morning and then I have classes later"

"But its Sunday!" Sai's aunt pleaded as though that made all the difference

Naruto bowed to her and then shook his head "It was truly a pleasure meeting you miss Li, I appreciate you having me in your home"

As Naruto turned to leave he heard her ask "will you be coming next weekend?"

Naruto just shook his head before leaving, he didn't want to draw it out anymore then he had to, knowing Sai wanted him to stay was one thing, but to have his aunt asking him to stay also, it was hard to turn away from, but strengthening his resolve he closed the door behind him, and the soft click of the lock was almost deafening to his ears.

* * *

Naruto had never been to this side of town, he was a little unsure about it. The bus didn't go all the way in, and he had to walk the rest of the way. Not because it was a rough area. No. but because the people living here didn't need busses.

He looked up to large gates and faltered, what was he supposed to do? He could not see a bell nor any kid of intercom. But before he had to question again the gates opened in front of him. Naruto froze. Looking around him to see if there was someone there, but there was nothing, no one. Cautiously he began to walk towards the house. Though describing it as such was a bit of an understatement, this place was vast, and his legs felt weary as he began the assent up the stairs before the door.

Marble pillars reached to a high roof, each carved with intricate ivy designs, it was as Naruto investigated these that he was caught into a bear hug. Karen Latched onto his side and began dragging him into the house without so much as a hullo.

The hall was amazing, a crystal chandelier dropped down over spiraling staircases, Karen took his hand and linked it in hers before tugging it to get his attention.

"Daddy works for the government, so we get plenty of money to make our life easy. But you shouldn't worry too much. I don't care about money Naruto. So you don't have to live up to anything. Just adore me and that will be enough to be my boyfriend"

Naruto's eyes widened, Boyfriend? He had never agreed to this! Sure he said he would take her to the dance, but, Boyfriend? He felt her grip tighten to his hand and her smile grew. Naruto had never had this kind of attention from a girl before, and for this to happen, after what happened last night! Naruto turned to tell her that he could not possibly be able to be her boyfriend, but then her father came.

"So this is the boy that you…"

Words fell short from the mans mouth as Naruto turned large eyes to look at him, the man was tall, well built and had neat black hair, his eyes the same dark of Karen's, he seemed to be a bit taken back when he first looked to Naruto, but after a cough he continued.

"I am sorry, you just reminded me of someone. What's your name son?"

"Erm… Naruto…"

The man just nodded and turned to Karen

"Now you treat him nice Karen, I don't want to hear anymore stories of broken noses of any other appendages, you here me?"

"Yes sir" Karen nodded and then turned to Naruto as her father walked away. "So where is this Surprise you said you would have for me?"

Naruto was watching the man walk away, and had almost forgotten Karen was there, He looked to her eager face and smiled brightly. He put down his bag, latched to the back of it had been two suit carriers, he unhooked them and then presented the larger of the two to Karen.

She unzipped it and took a step back, gasping as she did so. "Wow" was the only words she could exclaim, before her was a true period dress, it was Ivory silk with a gold embroidered front, the under-dress was a real corset and it had gloves and costume jewelry to match.

She gingerly reached forward and ran her hand over it, it felt old, but not in a dingy way, in an expensive way, she looked back to Naruto, who in turn just smiled more.

"So do you like it?"

"I love it! But, where did you get this"

Naruto laughed and scratched the back of his head "I know people, anyway, you will need to try it on, if it's not right I can change it today before I head into class"

Karen gripped the bag and smiled back to him, then she frowned. "Class? But, we don't have school today?"

Naruto just shrugged "I do a lot of classes outside of school, keeps me busy, but I don't mind, I don't really have many friends to hang out with, so it's something to do"

Karen sighed a small amount and then took his hand

"Well I am not letting you go just yet; you have to help me get this on"

Naruto went beat red. "W-W-What? I… you're… Karen, this is"

"What are you afraid of being in a room with a girl in her underwear?"

"Yes!" the response was quick and Karen laughed gripping his hand tighter, Naruto found himself being unable to pull away from her as he was being lead up the stairs, he looked back to his bag left on the ground and thought it the Ideal way to escape this.

"My bag, I have to go get…"

"The butlers will put it away"

"But I have to get to class"

"I will have you driven there"

"Karen there is really no need to fuss over me"

"That's what a girlfriend does Naruto, we fuss over the people we are dating"

Naruto felt his blood running cold, but there was nothing to be done as he was led towards the girl's room, down a long corridor and a left turn, he was then facing the third door on the right. Karen opened the door and led him to a bed, there she sat him down.

Naruto was red, his face was so flushed he could feel the heat burning on his cheeks, Karen laughed and then walked behind a screen with the dress, hanging it up by the hooks on the frame, Naruto watched as her top was sent to hang over the screen, and then her jeans. Now he heard the shuffling as Karen pulled out the under-dress, a rush of relief passed over him as he realized she would not be walking out half naked.

Now it was not that he would be entirely averse to seeing a good looking girl in her underwear, but this was… Karen, he went to school with her for ages, and she had never seemed interested in him at all, but… now she was fawning over him like she had found something special... what he could not figure out was…

"Why now…"

"What?" Karen popped her head out from behind the screen… "Come here a minute, I need yah to tighten this"

Naruto stood and walked to her, and she showed him her back. The laces were loose and her skin was bare, Naruto swallowed hard and began to pull on the strings, while he was doing that, Karen repeated her question "What did you say before?"

Naruto looked away from her for a second, not that it mattered as she was facing away from him, and after a moment, he spoke, but only after taking three deep breaths

"I don't understand why you are interested in me… you never seemed to like me before"

Naruto was tugging away as he spoke and Karen gasped at the last pull, regaining her breath she said simply

"You never smiled before; you have a great smile Naruto"

He had not imagined he could get any brighter then he already was, but the heat in shi cheeks intensified and he set about completing his job before he disappeared from behind the screen again. Ten minutes later and Karen was walking out in the dress, and he would freely admit that she was stunning in it, though the glasses did take away from the look.

"How did you know my size?"

"I am good at things like that."

"What else are you good at?"

He had no warning of it, before he could even register what was happening Karen had pressed him back to the bed, she was climbing atop of him, skirts encompassing his lower body, he found his eye line filled with her cleavage, and laying back gave her more leeway, her hands now moved to either side of his head, and she began to lower herself on him. Naruto Squirmed, but this only seemed to encourage her.

"I always imagined my first time would be like this…"

Naruto's eyes widened and he opened his mouth to protest, there he found in doing so, the gap was promptly filled with Karen, she kissed him full on and he felt like he needed to get air, when she finally broke the kiss he felt her hands going after his clothing, that seemed to jerk him into action

"Karen, Karen stop!"

She seemed not to hear him

"Karen please, this isn't right"

Still nothing and his zipper was undone

"Karen, I… I don't want our first time to be like this. If we… if we are going to do this, I want it to be special"

That stopped her, and she looked at him with large dark eyes, Naruto was glad he did acting classes, she was just looking at him now, and he felt he needed to say more, to get her to move.

"Can we… Date, for a bit first at least? I want to get to know you a bit more… this, well doing something like this should be taken seriously, its not the only thing I want from a girl, and if you are to be my… my girlfriend, I am going to treat you with respect"

This seemed to hit something with the girl, because she stood and looked down at him with a shocked expression

"do you… really mean that?"

Naruto nodded, it was a bit of a white lie, he meant it, but not necessarily that he wanted her as a girlfriend, but then her face seemed to hit him like a ton of bricks, she smiled, but not like he had seen her doing before, it was not fake, a smile placed on just to get boys attention, it was a real smile, full of emotion. He was sitting up now and she gripped him to a hug.

"You're so nice, you like the only guy I know that would say something like that. How did I never notice you before?!"

Naruto gingerly returned the hug, but whispered in her ear during it "I really have to go to my classes Karen, My cousin will be mad at me if I miss them…"

Karen pulled back, she did not seem to happy about this, but she nodded, Half an hour later, a redressed Karen and an uncomfortable Naruto were sitting in a Mercedes on there way to town. Naruto was uncomfortable to be driven like this, and it was clear with how he fidgeted. But Karen seemed more then used to the lifestyle, she was more focused on trying to touch Naruto as much as possible without the Driver noticing.

When the car pulled to a stop outside the old theater, Naruto could not get away quicker, though he did give a look back from the steps to call out to Karen that he would see her at school tomorrow.

And with that, he stepped into the building.

* * *

_Okies, I know I know, whats with the Karen bit, but lets face it, she is very forward in the manga, and I actually LOVE that about her! I really do!! So I am keeping her to character XDDD I kinda feel a bit sorry for Naruto in this, I wonder how the Naruto in the manga would handle Karen if she was as full on with him as she is with Sasuke. XDD_

_Okies! One other thing! Should I do more acting bits with Naruto? He is about to go into Drama class, So if yah want, next chapter I can act out another Puck scene with him? Let me know - I will update again soooooooon (though I should be drawing too)_


	7. Confessions

_okies so a short chapter, I am sorry, XDDD and it is a bit fluffeh, but I promist the storyline might make an apperance soon!!_

_till then, wanna reveiw and tels meh if your enjoying? _

* * *

"Sooo Peter, you feeling up to some banter?" The fair haired boy nudged to Naruto's shoulder and the blond snapped his head up

"What?" Naruto was dazed, he was not really able to concentrate on his lines, two things were running through his head. First was Karen and her advances on him, and second. He felt the over powering need to go back and apologize to Sai for the night before. The Boy beside him tilted his head a bit and then shrugged

"Lines Peter, we can go over our lines together, Jeeze, I know you are spacey half the time, but you look like you're caught in la la land right now"

Naruto looked back at his script and then to the boy once again. "Sorry Suigetsu I- I guess I am just over thinking things"

Suigetsu's eyes seemed to widen, Peter over thinking things, that seemed a bit odd, he never seemed the over thinking type, or the thinking type for that matter, he had always just come to class learned his parts, played them well, and then went home, If he was honest with himself, Suigetsu had always been a little Jealous of Naruto…

"Well… should we start?" Naruto stood and stretched his arm above him, bringing it over his head as he lent to the side, he repeated the motion on the other side, and then stopped halfway through… "What is it?"

"You seem different…" He reached for his script and then looked to Naruto "Susan told me that you borrowed some costumes, apparently this is the only reason you're playing Puck... you never seemed interested in doing parts before this-" He raised his hands defensively to the look Naruto gave him. "No no, I just mean, its like, you took part, but it never felt like you were really wanting to do it, you had no energy about you… Something has changed in you. Did you get yourself a boyfriend?"

Naruto's face went red and he looked away "Why would I have a boyfriend? I-I don't go for boys, I told you that the first day I came here"

"What's her name then?"

Naruto looked up and was about to say Karen, but something about it just didn't sit right, he furrowed his brow and picked up his own transcript "lets just get this over with shall we?"

Naruto took on a playful stance and gestured to Suigetsu with a flair

"My mistress with a monster is in love.  
Near to her close and consecrated bower,  
While she was in her dull and sleeping hour,  
A crew of patches, rude mechanicals,  
That work for bread upon Athenian stalls,  
Were met together to rehearse a play  
Intended for great Theseus' nuptial-day.  
The shallowest thick-skin of that barren sort,  
Who Pyramus presented, in their sport"

"is she pretty?"

Naruto ignored the question and continued

"Forsook his scene and enter'd in a brake  
When I did him at this advantage take,  
An ass's nole I fixed on his head:  
Anon his Thisbe must be answered,  
And forth my mimic comes. When they him spy,  
As wild geese that the creeping fowler eye,  
Or russet-pated choughs, many in sort,  
Rising and cawing at the gun's report,  
Sever themselves and madly sweep the sky,  
So, at his sight, away his fellows fly;"

At this point Naruto was grinning madly and making the sweeping gestures of a bird, he turned to conclude his part, looking back to Suigetsu before leaping back to crouch upon a table

"And, at our stamp, here o'er and o'er one falls;  
He murder cries and help from Athens calls.  
Their sense thus-"

" how old is she? Is she an older woman? Peter you Dog!"

"Their sense thus weak, lost with their fears  
thus strong,"

"Oh or is she younger, is that why you wont tell?"

"Their sense thus weak, lost with their fears  
thus strong,

Made senseless things begin to do them wrong;  
For briers and thorns at their apparel snatch;  
Some sleeves, some hats, from yielders all  
things catch."

"Oh I know! Its one of your teachers in School!"

Naruto frowned and pointed at him

"Look here snowflake, if you don't stop this-"

"Is it Jenny the props lady?"

"I swear to God I-"

"Oh wait! Better yet!! Its Susan isn't it! She has had a huge crush on you for the longest time!"

"Quit it! Its not funny anymore"

"Oh no wait, didn't you say you lived with your cousin… Peter your not in love with-"

"SAI!"

The white haired boy fell silent and looked at Naruto for a moment, the blond was gripping to his script as though his life depended on it, and he was glaring at him like he was going to go for his jugular. And Suigetsu could only say one word.

"What?"

Naruto seemed to have reached breaking point and it all seemed to come out of him in a flurry

"His name is Sai okay! I didn't mean for it to happen and I didn't particularly want it to happen either, but he, he just gets under your skin, he is like an addiction, I am finding it harder and harder to pull away from him. You have no Idea what its like, you! You're alright, you like men, I never- I mean, I never looked at a guy that way before, and suddenly all I can think about is how soft his skin feels, or, how nice his hair smells, or how just one little smile from him is enough now to set my heart pounding."

"holy shit"

"And what's worse, I just left him, After kissing him I just walked out this morning without even saying goodbye"

"hold up, you kissed him?"

"it seemed like a good idea at the time…"

"did he kiss you back?"

"No… not at first, but then he followed me…" Naruto looked down and shuffled a bit " it doesn't matter anyway, its not like I can do anything about it… I am not allowed to have friends, much less a boyfriend…"

"Says who?"

"My cousin"

"Ha! Like she can decide your life for you! Peter! You need to live your life for yourself."

Naruto looked up to see the other boy grinning madly, and he could not help but smile himself

"Well that's not my only problem."

Suigetsu tilted his head, he decided he liked this new sharing Peter much better then the old I am not going to say anything and just do as I am directed Peter.

"Oh and what would that be?"

"Her name is Karen, and she has proclaimed me as her boyfriend"

"Just tell her you're Gay"

"But I don't think I am"

"You kissed a guy and now you're obsessing over him, That sounds pretty gay to me Peter my man"

Naruto shook his head a bit and then sat down to the table behind him.

"I kissed Karen too, or more she kissed me… half raped me" he said with a bit of amusement. "and I would be lying if I said I didn't feel anything for her either, I mean, she is attractive, she was never interested in me before, so I guess I wasn't ready for her to be so forward, but… I could see myself liking her too"

The fair haired boy sat beside Naruto throwing his arm around his shoulder, he jabbed a finger into the blonde's chest and then laughed

"Your life is worse then a badly screened soap opera, heh you're in love with a guy, but your not Gay, your cousin wont let you have friends yet you make them anyway from the sounds of things, Next thing you know someone is going die dramatically just as you get close to them, Ha, I better keep my distance from you"

He then whapped Naruto on the head with his rolled up script and stood up. He mirrored Naruto's stance that he had taken earlier and began to finish the lines that Naruto never got to complete

"I led them on in this distracted fear,  
And left sweet Pyramus translated there:  
When in that moment, so it came to pass,  
Titania waked and straightway loved an ass."

Naruto smiled and rubbed at his head.

"How about we go get something to eat Snowflake?"

Consent was given and Naruto made his way out to search for food, followed shortly by his fair haired understudy.

--

Sai said nothing to his aunt at breakfast, and nothing as he retreated to his room once again, a weight had descended upon his shoulders, he woke only to find Naruto had left, and though he had half expected it to be so, part of him with it not to be true.

What happened last night was strange; could Sai say he entertained thoughts of kissing the blond before? To be honest, he had, that was true, but he never thought it would have been the reverse; he wetted his lips slightly, as though trying to remember how it felt. That embrace, the silence that followed and now the pain that lingered.

He knew what he wanted there and then. He also knew that it was not attainable, Naruto had said it himself, that after the dance, it was over… but the truth was, that it was over last night.

Sai clutched to his chest and frowned to himself, could he so easily except that just because it was as Naruto said? Over? Just like that? Could ties be cut so easily?

A light knocking came to the door and Sai's Aunt entered carrying what looked to be a bowl of soup, She sat to the bed beside him and left out a sigh, The pale boy turned his head to look at her, she extended the bowl to him, and once he took it from her she left a soft sentence fill the air.

"Worrying wont help him… all you can do it wait, and be there for him when he resolves whatever problem it is that he is going through"

--

Mairu was on the phone when Naruto came in the door, she cast her gaze towards him as he entered the hallway, a frown was still placed upon her lips and her conversation lowered to a whisper, he did not stop to try and over hear what she was talking about, nor did she give him a chance too.

She clicked the receiver back into place and followed after the blond, her foot falls were barely audible, she came up almost right behind him before he turned to face her. There was something in her eyes that put Naruto on edge. And her words did little to ease his fear

" we have to move in a month Naruto. I am pulling out out of School in two weeks, get your stuff ready for when we are leaving"


	8. Enquiries

_I would like to thank Everyone for the reveiws soo far!!! Love to you!!!_

* * *

Leaving? Naruto was staring at her trying to process what she said, leaving in a month? But, why? Just who was she talking to on the phone? And why was she so hush hush about it? He felt his temper rising and his brow furrowed, Mairu must have seen what was coming as more words began to pour from her hateful lips 

"You brought this on yourself you know? What did you think you could disobey me so easily? After everything I have done for you, and you do this? You think I like to see you moping around the house? You think I like to watch you getting jeered by the other children? I have tried my best to keep you entertained, got you all those lessons got you classes, even changed your name so you could enroll, All you had to do was behave and keep yourself to yourself, that was all. But you could not even do that!"

"Well it wont be so hard next time, no one will know who you are, so you can do whatever you want, see if I care on it-"

Naruto gripped her arm and glared at her, Mairu did not seem so taken with this course of action as she took a hold of his wrist and twisted it painfully, sending him to drop to his knees, releasing a soft howl of pain

"Now you listen to me carefully Naruto, it is bad enough that I have had to live with you for these past two years, but I will not tolerate such insubordination from something like you"

Through gritted teeth Naruto retorted as best he could. "You-you speak as though you're not living from my money bitch"

His head hit the floor hard and left Naruto wondering how she was so strong, a knee crushed into his back and her breath fell lightly to the back of his neck before her soft voice whispered dangerously into his year

"I have no need for your money boy, I was doing perfectly fine on my own till I got lumped down with you. You do not have the first clue as to who I am, or what I am capable of, if I were in your position, I would think on my next words carefully before answering. I am your guardian, and you are my charge, you do as you're told, and I keep you safe, that is the arrangement, if you want to remain safe. You will do as you are told. Do you understand?"

Naruto made no sound, the biting pain in his arm and back flooding his mind and making it hard to breathe, the knee jolted into him slightly and he gasped. It jarred him into nodding and only then did she let him up.

"Now go to your room and get your things packed, fill your rucksack with two changes of clothing and the savings you keep under the loose board at the center of your room, we may have to leave early, so we will need to be ready"

Naruto coughed some whilst rubbing his wrist, he looked back to her, and then away, there was nothing he could say that would change her mind on this, that much was evident, but it was all very confusing, why was she so on edge? And why would they have to leave early? Mairu pointed her finger towards his room and he shrunk away. Leaving her to do whatever it is she did when he was not with her, and leaving him to fall back into the cycle of hate that he had only just clawed his way out off.

* * *

Karen tried on the dress again, this time it was without the corset underneath, it did not look as good, but it was still pretty stunning, she let her fingers trail along the swirls of embroidery that adorned the mid panel of the dress. She was admiring herself in front of a full length mirror when her father came in, he smiled to her reflection and she rounded on him with a pout 

"Daddy! You should know before entering my room! I could have been doing anything!"

The older man shrugged his shoulders and sat to the bed, patting the space beside him for his daughter to come and join him, Karin frowned deeply but moved closer to the bed none the less.

"Tell me Karin, That boy… have you known him long?"

The crease in her brow deepened slightly as he asked her the question, and she shook her head slowly.

"Not really… I mean he has been in my class for about two years I guess, but I don't really know him that well"

"His parents? Have you ever met them?"

"Urm… I don't think he has any…"

"Ah…" There was an indiscernible expression upon the man's face, and it was a moment before he uttered "poor lad. What's his second name?"

"Daddy, I don't want you to go snooping about, Naruto is a nice guy, besides I can more then look after myself"

The older man simply smiled and shook his head slightly

"I know pumpkin, but indulge this old man, after all a father is allowed to worry"

"Well… okay, his second name is Uzumaki… But No threats daddy, you scared off my last boyfriend that way"

The man just smiled and Shrugged " I did not like how he looked at you princess" it was at this point the older man stood and looked over his daughter with a warm smile that only a father can master.

"You look beautiful Karin. I just don't want to think that anyone would take advantage of you"

Little did he know about his pumpkins action earlier, and possibly a good thing for Naruto that he didn't, Karen just flicked her hair and nodded.

"I know daddy, but you don't have to worry about me, I will be just fine"

* * *

The morning came as he knew it would come. Blue eyes glared at the ceiling above him, Naruto had not slept a wink, he had packed his bag as he had been told to, and left it to the center of the room. 

He could smell the breakfast from downstairs, but he made no effort to get up. He knew he had school to go to, but the thoughts of that now depressed him more then it had in a long time.

To face the people in school, if only he had kept his distance from them, then this would not be so hard, if he had not made friends, if Sai had not….

Sai. Even thinking the name made his stomach flip, how was he going to tell Sai about him having to leave? Why had he become such an important part in his life that he did not want to face him, to see the boy get upset, or try to figure something out. Knowing Sai he would suggest that they live together that Naruto move into his aunts house with him, but Naruto knew that would not work, not until he was of a legal age anyway… just a year and few months to go, that was all…. A few months and Mairu would not be able to boss him around anymore…

A knock came to his door, but Naruto said nothing, the door opened irregardless and Mairu entered holding a tray in her hands, she sat to the end of the bed and left out a sigh, a strange feeling came over Naruto then, curiosity sprang up within him, Mairu never sighed, he knew that. So to see her practically slumped on the bed was different to say the least. And her voice was odd when she finally spoke.

"You not the child you were two years ago, are you?"

The question hung in the air, as if waiting to be answered, but both knew there was no answer to it. Naruto sat up in the bed and took the tray from her, as if that was answer enough, she had made him breakfast, consisting of the most unhealthy food you could think of, but absolutely welcome, rashers and sausages, eggs and beans, three slices of toast and a coffee. Breakfast of champions [sic

"There are many things you don't understand Naruto, things I am not at liberty to talk about with you, I made a promise to your father a long time ago that I would keep you safe, and that is what I am trying to do, but I forget sometimes that you are a growing boy, and you can not see things as I see them… Last night was our first real fight. I did not mean to hurt you like that, but it seemed necessary, I had to make you listen to me."

"Everything I am doing… is for your own benefit, I just need you to trust me"

Naruto was looking to his plate as she spoke to him, her words of a somewhat apology seemed to be sincere, but he knew better then anyone what she was like, and so when he did bring himself to look at her, he could only manage to say

"This Coffee is poisoned isn't it?"

And to his utter dismay, his cousin smiled and then even went so far to laugh, she began to shake her head, but stood before she said anything else, there seemed to be a look in her eyes, not quite sadness, more like… defeat, and her next set of words came out in the serious tone he was used to

" I guess that was a response I should have expected, but irregardless Naruto, I need you to act as you had been in the last to weeks, Do not tell anyone you are leaving, it is imperative that no one knows about this. Once we have relocated, I will contact that boy you are fond of, Sai wasn't it. If I deem it safe, you can meet with him, I see now that you will no longer blindly follow my orders, but perhaps with this incentive, you may be more willing."

She turned to leave, and Naruto nearly knocked the tray to the floor in an effort to rise from the bed and stop her, the clatter seemed enough to stall her and she turned to look at him once again, he remained from for a moment, but then spoke softly…

"I just don't understand… why do we have to leave to begin with?"

Mairu just turned from him then and shook her head saying

"There is so much you don't know Naruto"

* * *

_I love feedback! So please tell me what you are thinking on this sooo far_


	9. The World is Not a Stage

It was all well and good for her to say that, 'don't tell anyone we are leaving' but he could not just revert back to the boy he had been before he knew this tidbit of information, and though he was a good actor, it was different in real life

It was all well and good for her to say that, 'don't tell anyone we are leaving' but he could not just revert back to the boy he had been before he knew this titbit of information, and though he was a good actor, it was different in real life. There was also the problem that he also did not know what to say to Sai. Sure it had seemed okay at that moment in time to just kiss him, but now with the pale raven haired boy sitting next to him, Naruto felt his stomach squirm and he could not keep his attention on what the teacher was trying to say.

Sai nudged him and he looked to him in a slight panic, the pale boy just smiled and pointed at his book and then to the teacher, the teacher who was looking very impatient at the time. The rest of the classes followed suit, and it was clear that Naruto was spacing out, he was ignorant before yes, but now he was just distracted. Sai noticed, but he had an idea, all be it the wrong one, of what might be wrong. So at lunch time he cornered the blond.

"Naruto, I think we need to talk."

Blue eyes evaded his gaze and Sai found himself frowning. It was worse then when they had first met, that time Naruto was withdrawn yes, but now, Sai felt he was responsible for it.

"Naruto please… listen, if it is about the other night. I am sorry okay, its okay I mean, we are friends right?"

Blue eyes began to look to obsidian, Naruto felt his eyes widen a touch, he did not think they would talk about it, but then what did he think they would do? Pretend like it never happened? Actually that was just what Naruto had been planning to do, but Sai was…

"I think we were both tired, I mean, it was silly right? Nothing to get worked up over. So don't worry about it, I am not embarrassed by it. We can still be friends right? Well at least till the dance right?"

Now Sai was trying to be consoling, trying to be reassuring, trying to let Naruto know that he didn't mind the kiss, that he wanted to be his friend still, but what Sai did not realise was, that Naruto was reading it in a very different way. Tired? What did he mean by that? Did he think it was some kind of joke? That by him putting himself out there like that, it was nothing! NOTHING! Naruto felt himself get angry, he narrowed his eyes and frowned hard, Sai seemed slightly confused and a little taken back by the cutting tone that followed.

"Right, Yes. It was nothing, your right Sai. Now if you will excuse me I have to go find Karen"

Naruto practically marched away at double pace, and you could feel the anger coming from him, Karen was not to far away from them and Sai watched as Naruto gripped her wrist and actually forced her from her friends, dragging her away from them while saying something he could not make out. Ino and Hinata looked back to him and Sai shrugged, he honestly did not know what just happened.

Karen was looking worriedly to the blond and then back to her friends. She followed along saying nothing to much, she ad seen Naruto angry before, many times infact, but she had been on the receiving end, not that it was actually directed at her per say, but his grip was tight and his jaw was clenched, and she dared not to talk to him till he got her into an empty lot.

"I don't see why we have to do this, I mean, it's not like the dance is important to me or anything…"

Naruto looked up at her and then away again, talking to the ground, almost spitting out his words.

"Yeah, well, I made a promise, I am not about to back out of it just because… well, I am not about to back out of it. Anyway, I thought we were meant to be spending time together and all that."

"Okay Naruto I think you need to calm down"

"I am perfectly calm, why wouldn't I be calm?"

He held his hand out to her and she took it. It was weird, to be dancing out in public, but it was also fun, Karen found herself behaving this time, and Naruto was more thankful for it. 30 minutes later and the class bell rang, leaving the pair to look towards the school.

That was when Naruto saw him staring, dark eyes and matching locks, not a mirror of Sai, but you might think them related if you did not know better. Karen began to tug on Naruto's hand and slowly he began to follow, staring at the class president till they came practically face to face. That was when he felt his wrist being gripped.

"Karen, tell sensei we are going to be late. I need to talk to Uzumaki."

Karen frowned slightly but nodded, she had not really spoken to Sasuke since her confession to him last month, and he rarely acknowledged her at all, having him order her about like this was irksome, but what could be done about it?

Sasuke faced Naruto; he stared at him until the blond was uncomfortable enough to look away.

"What do you want Sasuke?"

The boy merely frowned and let the silence hang for a bit more, it was grinding on Naruto's patience, it we more then he was prepared to face, and just as he was prepared to leave, Sasuke began to speak

"It's only a few days to this dance; I am beginning to wonder how you will change when it is over"

Naruto said nothing but only stared at the dark haired fellow as he continued

"I don't think it is a good Idea for you to be dating Karen, or for you to continue being friends with that boy."

"His name is Sai"

"I don't care what his name is! Naruto… you will only get hurt in the long run. I know you don't much like me, but…"

Sasuke's hand was cold as he gripped to Naruto's, And the sun kissed boy startled to it, taking a step away only to find himself stalled by Sasuke.

"Stop Naruto, you have to stop this, it was better the way it was before, you weren't hurting anyone, and no one was hurting you. It was better being on your own. Don't you understand Naruto, He has changed you, this is not who you really are, you don't dance, you don't participate, you are just there, it is the way it is meant to be, it is the way I have kept it for two years now, Why are you allowing that Boy to-"

"His name is Sai!"

Naruto pulled his hand away and glared at the other, his blue eyes seemed cutting and sharp now and Sasuke narrowed his own in retaliation

"You think you know me? You think you know what I like? Why? Just because my cousin told you to watch me? You think that makes you understand me? Fuck you! You don't know the first thing about me! Your nothing more then a self obsessed freak who likes nothing more then to have power over people! I am not your fucking puppet and I will be friends with who the fuck I want to be friends with so you had better deal with that and get a fucking life Sasuke! And stop messing with mine!"

Sasuke watched Naruto's back as he marched back into the classroom. He had not expected the comeback or the sharp look in the blond's eyes, they had fought before yes, but this was the first time Naruto looked serious about it. Something was wrong.

Sasuke pulled out his cell phone and began punching in the number he knew by heart, it only took a moment before the female voice answered at the other end. Sasuke wanted answers.

* * *

Mairu was waiting for Naruto to get home, she had not asked for much had she? Had she? All he had to do was act as though nothing was wrong? I mean she sent him to acting school right? Surely he could have done that much? But apparently he could not.

When he walked through the door she said nothing to him, while he ate his dinner she said nothing, she said absolutely nothing to him, and Naruto was the one to break the silence.

"I know he called you…"

Still Mairu said nothing; she just picked up her plate and put it to the sink. She then left the room saying nothing at all; Naruto was growing more frustrated by the minute. But for the rest of the night nothing was said.

* * *

Nor was there anything said the next morning, silence ruled over the house, and it seemed infectious as Naruto did not speak all day in school. He was with Karen at his break showing her the move again, and this time she was staying late with him for an hour to perfect it. Naruto did not speak to Sai, even though Sai made an effort with him. He just nodded or shook his head before ignoring him again.

For Sai's part, he was beginning to think it was because Naruto meant what he said, meant it when he said he would not be friends with him after he had taught him to dance, but Naruto was more annoyed by the subtle if not intentional rejection of his feelings. But he was not about to bring it up and besides it would be better this way. Make a clean break or so they say.

And that was how it was, right up till the day of the dance…

* * *

_I know I know… I have not been around, but my life has been keeping me pretty busy right at the moment, so I am very sorry about all the delays. But you might be happy to know, that the real story line is just about to start!! Huzzah!_


	10. The last day

The morning light broke through the window, but it was not needed to wake up the pale boy, Sai had been up from an early hour, and he was now sitting to the end of his bed frowning, all week he had tried to talk to Naruto, tried to get some reaction out of him, but there was nothing. He went over what was happening but he could not figure anything out. As each day went on, Naruto seemed to be getting worse, becoming more secluded, and Sai did not know what to do about that.

He knew he was meeting with Naruto and Karin a few hours before the dance itself, Tenten decided she did not need to go as she already knew the steps they were doing, Sai was actually relieved by this, it seemed Tenten was having trouble finding clothing so she was spending her time preparing her costume, Sai had three hours before he had to leave, three hours to think, but no matter how much he thought, nothing was coming to him.

He would ask his aunt, but he did not want to have to admit to his aunty that he had kissed his friend, or visa versa, so he was trying to figure this out on his own, Had he discussed this with her, she might have been able to tell him right away what was wrong.

The minutes ticked by, and Sai still did not know what to say, but he was sure of one thing, he wanted to say something, there was a hollow feeling in his chest, and a sickness in the pit of his stomach, he did not want this day to come, as it marked an end of things, after today he would have no reason to ask Naruto to be near him, no excuses to hold his hands or fell his breath against him as they moved together… the more he thought about it, the more he knew that was something he was now fond of, it was something he was missing, the closeness.

He picked at his food just before he was meant to leave, and was almost startled when his aunt nudged him telling him he was going to be late, the walk was not a long one, but it felt like an eternity, Sai ran over things he might say, but he could not find a way to start, he did not know how to admit what he was feeling, as he was not sure what it was himself.

The school itself was left open, the dance committee would be inside decorating things and getting the music set up, so it was not at all surprising that the gates stood open, Sai found them imposing now, tall and intimidating, his hand was shaking as he stepped beyond the gates and made his way to the low wall where he would meet Naruto, he would have to talk with him before the dance, but what would he say?

Turning the corner he spotted the boy, sitting there with his shoulders hunched and his head in his hands, Naruto would not see Sai come up to him, and the first thing the blond would know would be a solid weight behind his back, Sai leant upon him and closed his eyes, letting out a sigh as he felt the warmth of the boy behind him, Naruto for his part, just lowered his hands from his face and stared to the ground. There was silence for a while, but then the soft deep tones that made Sai's voice began to speak quietly.

"I miss you…"

He began this way, and in this the words seemed to come to him, as though they had always been there from the beginning

"Even though we see each other, it's like your not there, and it has made me feel lonely, I feel like I have-"

Words cut short as he saw a figure coming towards them, it was Karin, she was in a pair of jeans and a wrap top, her hair was in a bundle of curls that were messily thrown up in her head, though it looked wonderful as it framed her face, and Sai found himself blinking stupidly at her…

"You look beautiful…"

"What?"

This was coming from Naruto, who had been listening to his words but did not see Karin coming, as Sai paused Naruto felt himself longing for the words to continue, so as he heard the next set, a heat spread over his cheeks and he began to turn to look at the boy behind him, that was went he saw Karin, his blush went brighter and Sai turned to look at him.

Now for his part, Sai could have just ignored the question from Naruto, but seeing him squirm in that way was nice, and with a look to Karin he then tilted his head.

"Well she is beautiful Naruto, though as I am sure you know, she does not compare to you, so no need to take offense"

Karin looked aghast for all of a second, till she saw the reaction Naruto had to this, the blond had spring around and flailed his finger at Sai, visibly going redder.

"Y-You… You can't say things like that! I-I am a boy, we are handsome or attractive or burly, we are not-not pretty"

"He called you beautiful Naruto, and I must agree, you really do cut a stunning form… with your dazzling eyes and golden hair…"

Karin began supporting Sai finding, and Sai found in her a partner in teasing, and followed her lead

"Not to mention his wonderful muscle tone, my he has a psyche most athletes would die for, you should see his muscle tone"

Karin turned to Sai and gripped his hands

"You have seen him Naked?"

"Well not quiet, I have seen him topless, and it is hard not to notice the strength of another person as they guide you about a room in a dance"

Karin nodded enthusiastically to this and Naruto looked in Horror as the two people he was interested in began to discus his body in front of him like he was not even there. As a result Naruto almost did not hear the name being called to him and it was rather late that he saw the pale haired boy approaching him.

"Peeeeteeer!!"

Suigetsu draped himself over Naruto's shoulders and planted a kiss to his cheek, this making Naruto shrug him off and Sai look at the other boy incredulously. Naruto looked at a loss of what to do, and he looked to Sai before returning his gaze to Suigetsu…

"S-Snowflake, what are you doing here?"

"Oh come on Peter? Can't a buddy drop by to say hallo?"

It was at this point that Karin frown and poked Suigetsu in the Chest

"I don't know who you are! But why are you calling My Naruto Peter? And just what are you doing in our School? I have a right mind to call the principle and have her throw you from"

"Hold up a minute girly? Naruto? This is Peter. And he just happens to be my bestest buddy!"

'I wouldn't go that far.' Naruto thought, but a panic was steadily rising in him, what was he going to say to Karin, and Suigetsu? Sai was alright, he already knew about this but…

"Karin, didn't you know, Peter is Naruto's middle name, He uses it in his drama class, I take it then that you are in his class… Snowflake was it?"

The pale headed boy turned to look at Sai, and a huge grin spread over his lips, soon Sai found an arm thrown over his shoulder and a face pressed close to his ear

"Suigetsu, Our lovely Peter here calls me snowflake, but you can call me what you like"

It was Sai's turn to go bright red and Karin's eyebrows shot up, this boy was as bad as she was, and she began to smile, he was not as irritating when he was not making moves on Naruto. Sai on the other hand was not as comfortable with it, and shrugged him off in much the same way as Naruto had done before. He gripped Karin's hand and began to lead her away.

"Karin and I will head inside Naruto; you can talk to your friend out here okay?"

Naruto nodded and muttered "okay Sai" before the pale boy left for the classroom where they would be practicing, Suigetsu's eyes widened in comprehension, So that was Sai, and This Karin girl also, things began to make a bit more sense, at least with the Karin situation, as she in that small moment seemed a bit more possessive, he turned to Naruto and smiled at him, before nudging him slightly

"Sooo that's the famous Sai, You have good taste pal, though that Karin one seems a bit bossy for my tastes, I say go for the guy, And what's all this about your name being Naruto? You never told me you were using your second name!"

Naruto just smiled and scratched the back of his head before shrugging

"Well you never asked, though I would prefer you didn't go telling them all at the class okay? Besides, what are you doing here? How did you find me?"

Suigetsu whapped the top of Naruto's head with a script and then grinned before handing it to him properly

"Kurinai-sensai has made a few changes now that you're playing Puck, She said that as you are more athletic then most of the cast, you will be able to use more of the stage in your actions, she wanted me to give you this so you could practice for rehearsals next week, she also said I should be with you just in case you need help or something"

Naruto looked at the direction and then looked back to Suigetsu

"That still does not explain how you found me here Snowflake"

The cheeky fellow threw his arm over Naruto and just looked up to the sky in a distant manner

"Naruto, you know I stalk you, I know everything you do"

"No…really, how did you find me?"

"I went to your house, your cousin told me you were here, said I should give this to you as well"

Naruto took a parcel wrapped in a cloth from Suigetsu, it took him a moment to realize it was the lunch he had forgotten, his eyes went a bit wide and he looked up at Suigetsu in slight question to it

"Hey I don't know anything about it, so don't look at me that way, Anyways, she said something about there being a dance today, I thought I would stick around and see what its all about, what do you say?"

Naruto did not Say anything, but silently agreed as he pondered Mairu's concern, to actually send Suigetsu to his school? Knowing full well he did not know Naruto by his real name… it was not like her at all. As it turned out though, it was a good thing to have the boy with them, as with Tenten being absent, they were one person short for the routine.

Suigetsu was also a good dancer, as it was in the drama classes that Naruto had learned to dance to begin with, He was paired with Sai and Naruto with Karin, and all in all they made a good team, it only took them four rounds to perfect the transitions, and hopefully Tenten would be as good of a dancer as she claimed, for if all went well they would make a grand impression.

* * *

An hour before the dance was due to start and they were all in costume, Suigetsu was still there and he was sitting beside Karin this time, the girl was in active conversation with him, trying to find out as much as she could about Naruto.

"So you're telling me that he is playing a part in a play because she borrowed this dress?"

"That's right little lady, he is playing Puck, I have to say Pete is one of the better actors in the cast, he was a natural from the start, though he never really talked much other then playing his parts, he seemed to like to keep himself to himself"

"Well yeah he did that here too, until Sai came along and dragged him out from under his rock"

"I was not living under a-" the blond began to interject but Sai cut him short

"You were a bit Naruto, you have to admit it"

"I just didn't like to talk that was all, nothing wrong with that"

"Well I prefer you like this, you're really fun to be around when you're not all moody"

It was Karin's turn to speak and Suigetsu was nodding beside her. In the short time he had been there you would think that they had known each other for years, and already Suigetsu had been on the receiving end of a few punches from Karin.

Sai finished up his lunch just as Naruto opened his. The boy that had just been smiling suddenly went very quiet; he took out a note that was on the inside and then lifted out his passport and some money that was placed on top of his lunchbox. Sai took the note from Naruto and read it out loud, not really understanding what it meant.

"_Keep these close with you, it might be tonight?"_

"What does that mean Naruto?"

The blond boy just shook his head and frowned slightly. He stood then and tipped his lunch out to the bin, not feeling very hungry there and then, He took Karin's hand and began to lead her away, there was only an hour before the dance started and Sai himself knew he had to go get Tenten, he was to meet her at her house in half an hour.

The group separated, Suigetsu saying he would stick around and see what this dance was like, and Sai rushing off to get the bus to Tenten's house. A few couples had already arrived and Naruto lead Karin into the function room. The dance would be a few hours long, and after that, who knew what would be happening, Karin felt Naruto's hand gripping hers a little tighter, and she squeezed his back slightly, thinking it was just nerves, if she looked at him properly, she might have noted a slight reddening of his eyes, but he would not cry… if this was going to be his last day here… he was no going to cry!

* * *

_Okay I really truly am sorry for all the delays, I am just a little swamped at the moment, I miss having spare time to myself, but I am finding now when I do get a day to myself all I want to do is rest…. TTTT Soooooo sorry!!_

_But I love you all really!! And I dooo appreciate it if you could review!_


	11. The dance part 1

_Reviews are greatly appreciated lovu_

--

Looking back on the situation, Naruto pondered on what he would have done differently had he known the full facts. Would he have ignored Sai entirely? Kept himself to himself? His thoughts drifted to Mairu then, when he last seen her, well… he had to admit that guilt was eating away at him as much as the cords were biting into his skin.

He could see the roof of houses speeding by as he looked out the window from where he lay on the floor of that rusty van he was thrown into… and the dance seemed like years ago now…

--

Sakura turned to get a good view of what people had turned to look at, and she found herself gasping slightly to the sight of Karin, she was amazing looking, and to the side of her, Naruto, she had never seen him looking so… smart. His head was held high and his back was straight, and he lead Karin into the room confidently. As for Karin, she never looked happier then she did right there, they were holding hands and the blush on the girls checks were evident even in the dark.

Sakura found her escort going ridgid as he became aware of her focus of attention and the boy glared at Naruto as though it was all the blonds fault for being there, which it slightly was, but it was not Naruto's intention, and so the boy then asked Sakura

"He is from your class… what's his name?"

"Eh?" Sakura jumped slightly turning to look at the dark haired boy " Oh… His name is Naruto, Will I introduce you Lee?"

Lee Nodded rather enthusiastically and lead Sakura over to the pair, joining them at the cue for photographs to be taken, Lee mimicked Naruto's stance and Sakura tapped him on the shoulder.

"Hey there Naruto, Karin, Great outfits! Where did you get them!"

"Naruto is part of a drama group!" Karin answered all to quickly "And he goes by his second name there! Did you know Naruto's middle name is Peter! Pretty Neat huh! And look!!" She proceeded to pull down the front of her dress a bit, this causing both Lee and Naruto to turn a shade darker and look away from her cleavage "it came with a real corset How cool is that!"

As Sakura cooed over the detailing in Karin's dress, Naruto felt a shiver run down his spine, he turned to look at the pink haired girl's partner only to find piercing back eyes staring right at him, He swallowed convulsively and then grinned a small amount , the other boy furrowed his brow (and what a brow) a bit before he strode forward to stare at the blond a bit harder. Naruto found himself shifting slightly under the gaze, and before he had a chance to make an introduction the dark haired boy spoke.

"We will fight for Sakura's attention. I will not have her stolen by someone that can not hold his form or posture!! YUSH!! FROM THIS MOMENT ON!! YOU ARE MY ETERNAL RIVAL!"

The boy was now pointing actively at Naruto and in turn Naruto had taken a few steps back with his hands held out, What was he talking about, stealing Sakura? He turned to look at the girl and found her spring green eyes looking at him, she was lovely wearing a red formal dress, not exactly period clothing, but she was nice all the same, her hair was caught up on her head with here usual bangs falling around it, he did not realize he was staring at her till the other boy brought him back to attention with.

"A DANCE OFF! I LEE SHALL PROVE TO SAKURA THAT I AM THE GREATEST DANCER IN THIS ROOM!!"

"YES! LEE!" This came from the other side of the room, and Naruto turned to see the Gym teacher giving this Lee boy a big thumbs up, the boy in question the broke into a near run and gripped the teachers hand, in what they possibly thought to be a touching moment, but to everyone else it seemed rather creepy, Sakura turned and smiled to Naruto.

"I am sorry about that… since I began dating him a few months ago, he gets annoyed at every guy who looks at me… if you will excuse me…"

Sakura walked over to the teacher student pairing and proceeded to drop punch Lee right on the back of his head, Guy-sensei looked horrified and terrified all at the same time, and Karin beside Naruto was Egging Sakura on.

"Yeah! Beat the living snot out of him!! (favorite saying from when I was a kid, sorry I could not help myself) Haha!! Hey Naruto? When do you think we will start dancing?"

The blond could not give a conclusive time as he was not really sure himself, and after getting there photo taken together, and the arrival of all the guests, dinner would start, The arrival of Sai and Tenten got a few gasps from people also, As stunning as Karin was, she did not hold a flame to the outfit that Tenten had managed, everything was perfect, right the way down to the makeup and mask she had settled over her eyes, her dress was shimmering with embroidered jewels, and bellowed about her in a living mass of ivory silks and creams, for all intents you would think it a wedding dress if it were not for the dark splash of red and black that made up the corset bodice, more silk ruffles then spilling out over her bosom. Suffice to say… she had worked hard to get her dress perfect.

Dinner started, Sakura had planned it out as a proper formal dance party, meaning dinner would come first, then they would have free dancing all to the last song when they would perform the dance they all learned in school, then the voting would be held for the king and queen of the dance, and after that a disco would start and they could do what they liked.

Dinner was formal, all proper cutlery and everything, there was much laughter at the confusion as to what forks they had to use, and even more when the hostess had to give a speech, Sakura could not get a word in edgeways with Lee constantly shouting at boy for looking at her.

Naruto snorted once and received a look of pure aggression from him, but that just got the Blond more excited about actually beating him in the dance, this was turning out to be more fun than he had anticipated, and he almost forgot that he might not be seeing these people again after this.

The dance started without much to-do, and Lee and Naruto seemed to silently agree that they would hold there contest during the formal dance that had been arranged, Naruto inwardly smirked knowing he had the advantage of this dim-witted soul, and Sakura just shook her head and called them both idiots.

The dance did not seem to take to long to get to the final dance either, even though it took a full two hours, in that time Naruto had danced with mostly Karin, but Hinata and Four girls from a class above him also called for his attention, (though Hinata was actually forced into it by Ino), yet most amusingly was Suigetsu.

The two boys took it up as a dare and strode onto the dance floor when Karin had said that Naruto would not be able to play the part of a girl if his life depended on it. Sai had began to step forward, but it was Suigetsu that had held his hand out to Naruto first, and gave a rather impressive performance of asking the blond to be his partner, Naruto in turn had turned coy and actually feinted a blush, looking away as he excepted the pranksters hand.

They easily covered the floor and Naruto made a good woman, but Sakura and Karin gawped as Suigetsu lead him with a gentile grace and Naruto followed it easily, Sai on the other hand seemed to be fuming, as he saw in Suigetsu what he had not been able to manage, The pale haired bastard was actually proficient as a partner to Naruto, His scowl was evident as Tenten just looked between the pair of them, Something must have clicked in her mind, as she suddenly went a touch paler.

On the final dip Suigetsu leaned perilously close to Naruto and girls about the room started squealing, Naruto though, thought enough was enough and set to pushing him back and striding over to his date with a triumphant grin on his face. Though it faded when he looked at Sai, the brooding boy furrowed his brow and then looked away. This causing Naruto to frown also.

"Oh come one Sai, we were only acting"

"Looked pretty convincing to me."

"Convincing…" Karin faltered and then gasped… "Naruto… are you?"

Naruto frowned and shook his head at the same time. "It was an act Karin, nothing more, besides, I am dating you aren't I? come on… the last dance is starting, and I have to beat that Lee guy so I can… well I have to beat that Lee guy"

Tenten was looking to Naruto thoughtfully and then she looked at Sai who seemed if anything even angrier then before, she followed him out to the floor all the while gears turning in her head as she formulated a plan. This Naruto seemed to be getting quiet the bit of attention, and not all of it was bad. In fact most of the girls seemed to be fawning over him now and that last dance seemed to have won a place with them… The dance they were about to perform would do a lot for the voting, she had surmised, so she took this as an opportunity…

Each move came off perfectly as the entire floor practiced a well rehearsed routine, the music was longer then the routine itself, but they were meant to repeat it a second time to see it out, the actual dance that went with the music was a lot longer, This was where things took on a different role, as planed, Naruto, Karin, Sai and Tenten, broke the routine and split rounding each other and then switching partners, but at the time they were meant to switch back, Naruto found Tenten had a firm hold of his hand, her feet changed and Naruto instantly knew what she was doing, He side stepped with her and began a quickened waltz to the music, Tenten it seemed also knew the Dance, and the full room stopped to look at the pair as they moved together, the flow was as perfect as it had been with Suigetsu, but now it seemed more… serious, Even Sai and Karin could only look on helplessly as there partners took over the room and the dance.

Each step taken seemed to fill Naruto with energy, and Tenten smiled brightly as he matched her perfectly, she had never known anyone who could hold her form, Naruto was really surprising everyone in the room as a dark horse, and even Lee who was now silently looking onwards admitted that he certainly was the better dancer. As the music drew to an end, they parted and Naruto gave a deep bow to Tenten, and she in turn curtsied. The applause that broke out after was deafening, and it took a while for Naruto to realize what was going on.

He made his way back to Karin rubbing the back of his head as he did so, he was all set to apologize when she interrupted him with a hug and a step back.

"You were amazing! I wish I could have danced like that!" She looked back to Tenten who was now getting praised by all her class and a few others from his class also, Sai was standing to the side of her looking away to the wall, he looked sullen in that moment, and as Karen turned back to Naruto she frowned to see him also looking to Sai with a sullen expression. Karin was not stupid nor was she one to be taken as a fool… she gripped to Naruto's hand bringing the blonds attention slowly back to her, and there Naruto found her lips pressed upon his own.

The kiss was gentile this time, and also strangely a little sad, as she pulled back, Karin was looking away from him with a blush spread on her cheeks. Naruto once more found a need to say something, but yet again found his words halted by her own.

"So it is true then…" Naruto looked a bit confused and tilted his head, but Karin did not finish there " You did not even make to return the kiss Naruto… You and Sai are always together right? And-and he was so angry when you were dancing with that other boy… And the way you were looking at him just there… do you even like me at all?"

Naruto found himself frowning hard, it had not even registered in his mind to kiss her back, and as her words came out, he felt more then a little guilty, he shifted uncomfortably and took her hand in his own. She looked back to him and saw his eyes were soft, she could not help but smile a bit and she went even redder as he began to lean towards her, but she did not find his lips closing on hers, instead she found words whispered to her ear. Then he moved towards Sai and Tenten, The girl smiled and thanked him for the dance, and then Naruto asked if he could borrow her partner for a moment.

Sai and Naruto made there way out of the building and Karin watched them leave, only thinking to the words Naruto had whispered to her, she clutched to the front of her dress and took a deep breath, she understood what he was saying, but it was still hard to take in, as they disappeared from her line of sight, she recounted his whispered words.

"_I do like you Karin, and I could see myself being very happy with you… but… but I think I love him."_

--

_And the second part will be on its way soon XDDD_


	12. The dance part 2

_So here it is... hope it clears things up for yah -_

* * *

Naruto pushed the doors of the gym open, what should have been an easy thing to do, now seemed rather hard, the frame was suddenly stiff and the light wood inexplicably heavy. The blast of air that then greeted the pair was cold and stung slightly, at least that was how it seemed to Naruto, he had thought to come outside and just tell Sai how he felt, tell him everything, but now that they were alone together, Naruto found himself growing anxious, what if Sai did not feel the same, what if he was making a mistake? Perhaps he should go back into Karin and tell her that he changed his mind, tell her that he actually loved her and they should elope together.

Sai on the other hand was thinking things over as they moved, he followed Naruto, as the blond had asked to talk, though as they walked forward, Sai felt a coldness growing inside him, he did not know what the talk was going to be about, but his mind was coming up with many theories mostly involving Naruto shouting at him and telling him to stop acting like a scorned lover. Was that really how he felt? Did he feel jealous of Naruto being with someone else? He knew the truth as soon as he asked the question, in the time they had spent together, Sai had become possessive over the blond, after all, was it not him, who had brought Naruto out of his shell? Was it not him, who had made his smile be known to the school? Why then was it not him, who reaped the benefits of that?!

Even before they reached the doors, Sai was worked into a silent temper, the cool air that passed over him did nothing to ease his mind, his hair ruffled slightly and he narrowed his eyes to keep the rogue strands from straying to close, as the doors then slid closed with a cushioned click, they were finally alone. The dark haired boy braced himself for what was to come, he closed himself down, guarding his feelings as best he could, this was reflected then as Sai turned now cold eyes to meet Azure, though he was not expecting to see Naruto's looking so unsure, His brow furrowed deeply and he looked away from the blond, he could not look into those eyes that seemed to hold something akin to fear when he was trying so hard to be brave about the situation. In fact he was now wondering why he had come out in the first place. A stubbornness ran though him then, He was not going to let Naruto have it his way, it was not going to be easy for the blond before him. Sai repressed a shiver that threatened to roll down his spine, and he was not sure if it was from nervousness or the chill of the air about him, but it had to be done, before Naruto could say a word Sai decided to knock it on the head, to get it over with.

"I can't be like this anymore" The words were spat out to the ground and his voice had lost its usual soothing tone that Naruto had grown so fond of. "I don't know what you expect of me Naruto, but I can't help but feel the way I feel, and I don't want to hang onto to something that will hurt me."

At this point Naruto's eyes had widened slightly, he did not expect Sai to start talking, nor did he expect to have words spoken in such quiet anger, when he looked to the raven haired boy then, he felt a sudden pain growing in his chest, his hands gripped to the edging of his jacket and a tension spread up his back, all nervousness was fading now as Sai spoke, only to be replaced by anxiousness, the words that Sai had spoken brought with them a note of fear, and for the first time, Naruto was deathly afraid to loose him. Even when he had separated himself from Sai, Naruto had never felt as though he was really saying goodbye to him, yet in his words, Naruto was filled with a sense of dread he never would have imagined possible. But Sai had not finished talking.

"I need to know Naruto, Just what is this? I can't let myself feel something, if if…"

Words died in Sai's mouth, leaving it dry and parched, his eyes began to sting, yet there was no tears to sooth them, he did not want to say the words out loud, as though speaking of the rejection that was soon to come would only hasten the process, Sai wanted to hold onto whatever he had with Naruto for as long as he could, but in his mind, he felt it was coming close to an end, so he steeled himself for the cutting blow that would come, and as such, he was completely unprepared for the words that reached his ears.

"This is more important to me, then anything else in my life. Right now, I would give up the world just to be near you Sai."

A tear slipped down pale skin, falling past the curve of his cheek to cling to the tip of his chin, and it was a strange feeling at had come to his chest, like a bubble had burst within him, and something warm began to spread in its wake, Sai turned disbelieving eyes to the blond, he half expected Naruto to laugh and say that he was just kidding, but instead, what he saw there was wonderful truth, Naruto was smiling, and the blond then reached a hand out to him, Sai found his breath hitching, distantly he knew he had reached out to take the offered hand, but the world went numb, the brush of Naruto's fingers felt different now, the closeness was suddenly new, and Sai was nervous, A tingling sensation crept over his cheeks and if he didn't know any better he would say he was blushing.

And throughout it all a little voice in the back of his mind was telling him that this conversation had not gone the way he had thought it would, and he was now at a loss of things to say, he had come out prepared to be angry at Naruto. Ready to fight him to make the pain easier, but now he did not know how he was supposed to react, he felt like shouting at Naruto for not doing it right. Telling him that that he was meant to be angry at him, or be shouting at him. Not be saying things that made him feel all fuzzy inside, and certainly not be leaning into him in that manner. Naruto placed a hand to his face, and Sai found himself leaning into it, a thumb brushed over his cheek and his eyes slid closed, this allowing him to savor the touch, it made it seem more real, the next thing he felt was the sensation of Naruto's breath, falling upon his skin. It was not like that time in his room, there was nothing unexpected about this, he knew what was coming, and his stomach was doing flips at the thoughts of it.

The kiss was chaste, a mere brushing of lips upon each other, but it did not make it any less real, or tender, excitement bubbled within both the teens, and when Sai opened his eyes, he saw Naruto grinning like an idiot, only then to realize he was doing the very same, Sai made to move in on Naruto this time, but it was in that moment that the doors opened beside them. The noise was enough to separate the pair, and they both turned very red as they turned to see who had come out.

The sight that greeted them was a very ruffled Sasuke and a fuming Karin behind him, Sasuke's expression darkened as he saw the pair, and his eyes narrowed as he looked between Naruto and Sai. And it was clear to see that he was angry, his fists had curled tightly and he turned away from them quickly.

"You're wanted on stage, princess Tenten is waiting" The words were spat out with a taste of venom, and Sai actually flinched from them, sure he was not afraid of Sasuke, but he did not want to be looking over his shoulder all the time either, Sai turned to smile nervously at Naruto, and the blond only Nodded him onwards.

"I will catch up with you later Sai, at least now I know you wont get killed by her…"

Sai nodded and made to walk into the hall, only to be stalled by Sasuke's arm, A feeling of dred passed over the pale boy, he half expected a fist to come flying at him, but when it didn't come, he let his dark eyes look into the mirror of his own, Sasuke Uchiha was usually quite calm about thing, it took a fair amount to rile him, but there was something about Sai that pissed him off. He pushed the boy who could pass for his brother back towards Naruto, Sai faltered a bit and fell back, landing unceremoniously to the ground, Sasuke just sneered at him and looked past him to Naruto, the blond did not look very impressed, but any words were cut off as Sasuke spoke over him.

"Who said anything about her waiting on this dipshit, she's waiting on 'you' Naruto"

Karin was looking to the ground as Sasuke just walked back into the crowded room, Naruto helped Sai back to his feet, but he was confused, Sai didn't seem to understand it either, and so Naruto could only look to Karin. He walked up to her and tilted her chin up, but she looked away to the side.

"I tried to tell him not to come out Naruto, when he asked why I told him you and Sai were talking, he kind of lost it, I couldn't stop him…"

Naruto smiled and made her look at him

"Karin I don't mind, thanks for trying though, that was really nice of you, but…what does he mean about Tenten waiting for me?"

This seemed to Snap Karin back to reality as she gripped Naruto's hand all of a sudden, Next thing he knew she was dragging him through the crowd talking a mile a minute, Sai was following them, though he being shoved away a bit by people slapping Naruto on the back and congratulating him, it seemed that he had been voted as the king along with Tenten as Queen.

"_I guess this was the point that I should have done things differently"_

Everyone was cheering Naruto on, and Tenten was gripping to his hand as though it was had all be planned out, After all, they had danced as a couple, so when it came to voting, a lot of people had simply wrote, Tenten and Naruto, that mixed with the other votes saw that separately and together it was undeniable that they were both the winners of the award, Tenten was lapping up the attention, But Naruto could not wait to get out of there, he was scanning the crowd for Sai, but when he found him, he noticed something else.

There was something going on near the back of the room, one of the teachers was fighting with a woman, he ended up skidding half way across the floor on his back, everyone who was looking began to laugh, but not Naruto, No… inside he felt Sick. It was Mairu, and she was looking right at him, his jaw went a bit slack, leaving his mouth hanging a bit stupidly, Sai was looking at Mairu now, She was talking to Sasuke who strode forward and up the steps, Naruto took three steps away from the Uchiha and frowned hard at him, but it did not stop the class president from gripping his arm in an attempt to move the blond. Naruto stood firmly against him, and this obviously irritated the raven haired fellow and through gritted teeth he said in a low voice

"We have to go… now"

"No"

Naruto pulled his arm back and hopped from the stage, deliberately walking towards Mairu, the girl in question stood with a hand on her hip waiting for him, she had Naruto's backpack in one hand and her own on her back, she was wearing jeans and a tight top, on her feet were boots that seemed to be older then she was for the wear of them, her long hair was tied back and she had fingerless leather gloves on her hands. Naruto thought she looked like she was right out of the army, and when he got close to her, the first thing he said was.

"Who do you think you are? G.I. Jane or something? Could this not have waited till the morning?"

Suigetsu and Sai had both arrived near him and Karin was also coming over, Suigetsu laughed at the comment, but Sai remained Silent, Karin seemed angry, but Mairu was merely indifferent about it and handed Naruto his bag.

"We're going"

Naruto threw his bag on the ground, glaring at her, he was angry, more angry then he had ever been with her before, she just seemed to know the ideal times to upset him, though in retrospect Naruto reasoned that it would have been worse had she come when he was telling Sai how he felt, but that was neither here nor there at that moment in time, all he knew was that his blood felt like it was boiling and his jaw was aching from how his teeth were clenching, he felt ready to snap.

"You can hate me later Naruto, but right now we don't have time for this, we have to leave! I don't need you spazzing out on me!"

She gripped his arm the same way that Sasuke had, only her grip was that bit stronger, and Naruto did not manage to pry himself from it till they were nearly out of the hall.

"Fuck you!"

He whirled around as though to return to the room, but that was when something he was not ready for happened, Mairu placed a hand to his shoulder and when her voice reached his ears, it sounded pleading, almost afraid.

"Naruto please, we don't have any time to waste, please trust me…"

Naruto turned on her and frowned, he knew that this was coming, she had told him that they would be leaving, she had even sent him a note telling him that it was going to be tonight, but he just didn't want it to be now, He looked at Sai who seemed completely lost, and then at Suigetsu who was just as dumbstruck, then he returned his gaze to Mairu.

"I have to get changed first; I promised that I would return these outfits…"

"Naruto we really don't have-"

"Mairu, just let me get changed! It won't take five minutes!"

The redhead seemed to relent as she just nodded, Naruto pushed past her and Suigetsu and Sai made to follow him, rounding the corner to get to the locker rooms, Naruto's brow creased when he noted who Mairu was now talking to, Kakashi and Kiba were both talking animatedly to Mairu and just before they moved out of sight, he noted that his drama teacher was then running there way.

Kakashi said nothing to them, just waited outside, leaving Naruto completely in the dark as to why there one time harmless drama teacher was seemingly in cahoots with his hated cousin, Naruto was Fuming as he stripped out of his suit; Sai was leaning against the lockers looking distracted, while Suigetsu was pacing in an irritated manner. It was only as Naruto was about to leave that the snowy haired fellow spoke up.

"So you are just going? Was that what the lunch was about? I mean, I saw you take out your passport and the note saying it was to be tonight? I delivered that message for her, I mean does this make it my fault? "

Naruto said nothing but he did spare a glance back to the pair in the room, his feet felt like lead and his throat was dry, he forced a swallow but still entertained no words of explanation, he just looked to them both.

"Peter, Come on! This is a joke right?"

"I don't think it is Suigetsu"

That came from Sai, the pale boy was looking dejectedly away from Naruto, he was gripping to the suit bag that Naruto had handed him, his voice was small but not quite broken, and Naruto felt as though his heart was breaking…

"I think I understand what you were saying Naruto, about not wanting to… no not being able to be my friend, it hurts when you have to give something up… I know you said you would give up the world… You know I feel the same… I guess this isn't about the world, or you don't really have a Choice but…"

The look on Sai's face brought about a wave of sadness to the blond, and he felt a need to explain himself then, he did not want Sai to think this was it, the only reason he had agreed to this was because Mairu promised that they would see each other, he literally was willing to give up his world, if it meant he got to keep Sai in it

"Sai, wait a minute, I wasn't lying the only reason I am doing this is-"

There was a bang outside the door and next thing Naruto knew he was being pulled out of it, To his left was Kakashi, but there was something different about him, the eye he usually had covered up was now staring forward, and it was red, but the pupil looked… weird… Naruto stared at him for a moment and completely overlooked the fact that there were men with guns in front of him, and Mairu was to his right, and she was holding out a sword, Sai was about to step out when he was pushed back roughly by Mairu, a distinct cry of 'why do people keep pushing _me_ down' made Naruto turn and take stock of what was going on, Sai was on the floor, and Mairu was once more griping his arm pulling him away, and Kakashi was shouting something about 'holding them off'.

Naruto found himself running, and behind him he heard what sounded like birds chirping, but he could not stop to look, he felt the panic in his cousin, the urgency seemed to spread in him, and his legs moved faster for it, he was running flat out and almost didn't notice when Mairu was not beside him, he turned at the last minute to see her laying to the ground, her eyes were staring at him, but there was no life in them, just a blank stare, Naruto's brows creased and he made to run back to her, but that was when he noticed three darts protruding from her left shoulder, then Kiba was standing over her, or more like crouching, he seemed wild, Beside him was the biggest dog Naruto had ever seen, and there were men with guns, they were pointing them at… him! They were aiming at Naruto, a blind panic took the blond, and it was only to the shout from his classmate that Naruto began to run again, but he didn't know where to go, he just ran as though his life depended on it. Naruto felt more then saw a round of darts barely miss him as he was pulled around a corner.

Next thing he knew he was running with Sasuke, the Uchiha looked Stricken, as though he wanted to be angry, but there was to much going on for him to take any action to it, They came to a small enough wall and Naruto cleared it with ease, then they were running through a graveyard, Sasuke seemed to know where he was going as he dragged Naruto by the hand up several long paths and then finally down to a large tomb, he swung the doors open and shoved the blond inside, following him shortly after. There was no light, but in the dark Naruto could clearly see Sasuke's eyes… red eyes, just like Kakashi's… The without warning he was in pain.

Sasuke left his fist fly and it cracked sickly against Naruto's Jaw. And through his pounding blood he made out the hushed voice of the class president. And anger boiled once again.

" Two fucking years and then this happens, you just had to go and talk to people, if you just kept your mouth shut we wouldn't be in this mess!"

"ME?! Why is any of this My fault!! And Why have you got red eyes! Who are those people? Why are they after me?"

Sasuke glared at the blond, who could barley make out his silhouette, and he sat down beside him with a rather drawn out sigh

"I told them it was a bad idea to keep you in the dark about this…"

"Told who? What the fuck is going on!"

"Naruto, you don't have the first notion about who you are, do you?"

"Of course I know-"

"How are you talking?"

Naruto's words fell short and he found himself very confused about the question, what did the Uchiha mean? How was he talking? Of all the stupid things to ask, but then more words followed and Naruto felt his stomach fall.

"I broke your jaw with that punch, you heard it snap, you must have felt it to… so? How are you talking? Didn't you ever wonder why after a nights sleep, your bruises would be clean gone? Or why even after a full day in athletics you were never tired. Did it never cross your mind that you were different then everyone else Naruto?"

If he was honest with himself, Naruto would have said 'No' he had never thought himself different, he was outcast yeah, but he never thought himself strange, but as Sasuke spoke, his eyes grew dim and dark, the red hue disappeared and they were left in darkness, silence spread between the boys for a moment longer and then words hissed out again

"I was meant to protect you, at least in school, I made sure no one got close to you, Kiba made sure you never got into serious trouble by acting the fool and drawing attention away from you, and Kakashi dissuaded teachers from going to hard on you. We could not afford for certain people to have noticed you. All the while Mairu was pushing to have you removed entirely, every day she would call the organization telling them it was to risky, and everyday she would be told that your father wanted you to be in that school and live as normal of a life as you could, before you got dragged into this…"

Naruto just listened; he could not believe what he was hearing, dragged into this? Into what? And what had his father to do with any of this, his father and mother had disappeared, there was no sign of them, people had looked, why would anyone be following his orders? Naruto could not find his voice though, none of the questions burning in his mind would grant themselves release, so the blond was stuck there to listen, without saying a word

"You know, so many times I wanted to talk to you, just hang out with you, but that wasn't allowed, and I hated it, I hated it more and more as I forced you into solitude, but that was my role, and I had to abide by it, then _he_ came along, and did everything that I had wanted to do, he went against everything that I had been told not to let happen, and even though I knew I should have stopped him, and could have stopped him, I… I just wanted to see you smiling again…"

Naruto felt a dull thud next to him, and in the dark he felt something else, or more smelt it, blood, it scent filled his lungs and he could have sworn to a metallic taste in his mouth, it was then he noticed he could hear cracking, and brushing his fingers to the ground he felt the cement below him cracking, the blood was from Sasuke's knuckles, and Naruto spared a fleeting thought as to the force of the punch that sounded so harmless. But his mind was to flooded with information to linger on it, everything Sasuke was telling him, it didn't make sense, he rounded on Sasuke, his back leaning to the door of the tomb, he had just opened his mouth to speak when the weight behind him disappeared, and the last thing he saw was Sasuke's drained face before the world went black.

--

And that bring us to where we are now. Naruto had been thinking over Sasuke's words, what he had been trying to say, while they had been choppy and not very helpful, what he had gathered was this, Mairu had been trying to protect him, possibly died while trying to do just that, Sasuke Kiba and Kakashi had all been placed in his school to watch over him and make sure someone didn't get to know him, and… and there was something weird about him, Naruto made to move a hand so he could feel his jaw, but his binding prevented it. He sighed and let his head thump back to the floor he was thrown upon, and that was when a strange pair of eyes looked back at him.

"You're awake"

Naruto edged backwards as the man moved from the passenger seat, his iris was made of a collection of rings, deathly pale blue, and his hair was bright orange, but it was the piercings that freaked Naruto out the most, this man had more holes in him the a sieve, he bent down to Naruto and edged up the blonds top, he then bit down on his thumb and drew blood, to this Naruto freaked an kicked out, his bound legs connected to nothing but the mans hand, and Naruto found himself forced forward with a graceful sweep of the larger mans arm, Blood traced over his abdomen, and the strangest sensation came over the blond, symbols began to swirl over his stomach, a growl emitted from his gullet, and not that Naruto would see it, but his eyes had turned a bright gleaming red, to this the man smiled, this seemed to irritate Naruto to no end, pushing forward he felt a desire to bite this man, to tear at his throat with his teeth just to wipe that smirk from his face, but with a twist of the mans hand Naruto felt his power draining from him, a tiredness washed over him and he hit the floor of the van before he registered what had just happened… He would not wake up for the rest of the journey.

--

_Sorry this took a while everyone, I had a bit of a block with it, I just didn't know how I wanted to do the kiss scene, as I am a bit of a romantic at heart, and I didn't want to dive into the throws of passion with the pair, I felt it would ruin everything I built up… so yeah… we are getting into the real story behind the dance now…_

_So tell me… do you still hate Mairu?_


	13. aftermath

_Thank you everyone who has reviewed so far! You all have really encouraged me sooo much! I hope you are all enjoying the story so far, and I am sorry it is taking me so long to get the chapters out, I would promise to be quicker, but I have college starting soon and I will still be working, so soon enough I wont have ay time to myself. But I do love you all, and I promise I will continue to write this, if not very slowly._

_--_

"I'll hold them off!"

That was the call that rang out as the one time lazy drama teacher took a more defensive stance, Sai, who had been forced backwards, now watched with a certain amount of frustration as Naruto was forced into a run by the very same girl who had just pushed him, it took him a moment to see the other people out there, Kakashi had called out, and now they seemed intent to leave. That was when things got weird, a deafening sound of birds filled the hallway, and Kakashi was suddenly surrounded by crackling electricity.

What the hell was going on! Sai stood up with the aid of Suigetsu and looked at the door, the light began to fade and there was a lot of shouting from outside, the pair looked to each other and then back to the door, it took a moment before the doors flew open and Kakashi entered again, If asked, Sai would not have been able to recognise him, as he seemed a completely different person, no longer did he have the lethargic look about him, but instead a sense of urgency had taken its place, a prickling began to rush over his skin as the man moved towards the pair purposefully, Suigetsu took a step back, as he was unaware as to who this man was, and Sai could not blame him for it. For even in being a student of Kakashi's, Sai now found himself very unsure of the person before him, he was about to back away himself, but it was then that Sai caught sight of his Teacher's eye, it was revealed now and it was most certainly red, but more then that, its pupil was encircled by what he could only compare to black tadpole shaped dots, three of them in total. He stared at it for a while, taking in every aspect of that crimson eye, it was… amazing, he had never seen anything like that before in his life, the notion of it being exceedingly Cool but utterly terrifying came to mind, but his thoughts on the subject were to be left unheard, as the man closed the distance between them.

Kakashi moved to grip Sai by the shoulders, this breaking him out of his trance; there was a moment of stupor from the pale boy before he eventually looked up to his teacher, this caused Kakashi to press upon his shoulders somewhat harder, as thought to make doubly sure that he had the boys attention and that Sai was listening to him carefully

"Can you run?"

Sai nodded his reply to him, not fully sure he could find his voice in that moment, Kakashi did not seem fully convinced by this, this made clear as he squeezed to his shoulder a bit

"Are you sure Sai, if you fall behind, I might not be able to protect you."

That sentence caused Sai's eyes to widen slightly, but he confirmed that he could run but a slightly firmer nod and a feeble

"I understand"

That seemed to be enough to assure his teacher, as the man did not hesitate to move towards Suigetsu after that. Suigetsu had been watching the interaction with a look of fascinated terror and awe. But as the attention now turned to him he began to back away, muttering rapidly towards the chalky haired man advancing upon him.

"What are you coming here for, this has nothing to do with me, I Can't be involved in this, why don't you just leave me here, I will be fine, I will just hid in a locker or something till they go away or something, really you don't have to worry about me… honestly"

Kakashi however, seemed unperturbed by these actions; he grabbed the shorter boy's wrist and jerked him forward roughly, stopping him shortly and forcing him to stand upright, Suigetsu found himself looking into that impressive eye, and he was as mesmerized by it as Sai had been, as such he almost bolted when the taller man began to talk to him unsympathetically

'I don't have time to baby you right now, you can either run with me or I carry you! Either way, we have to move. Now!'

The drama teacher was now gripping to Suigetsu's arm once again, pulling him away, Suigetsu was doing his best to keep up, but it was all he could do to keep his feet on the ground, but even when he did loose his footing, there was no chance for him to fall, as with each stumble, Kakashi would yank him back up. And the guy was strong.

Sai was following behind them, it took all he had just to be able to keep up, even with all the faltering. Just as Sai began to find a pace, there was a cry out from the left of them, Sai look to the direction it had come from, and he spotted four men hiding behind a thicket of trees, He was about to say as much to his teacher, but the next thing he knew, was that he was flying through the air.

Had anyone told him yesterday that his slothful, perverted (he could clearly see the contents of the books his teacher had been reading) and somewhat whimsical teacher would have the abilitly run at the speed they were travelling, he would have laught outright to there face, but it was that teacher that stopped suddenly then, the same teacher that gripped him around the waist, and it was certainly that teacher that lifted him clean from the ground, the area around them became a blur, and Sai could only barely make out the path that they were travelling, and it did not escape his notice that Kakashi had brought both him and Suigetsu to a darkened area near a park.

There was silence for a moment but then Kakashi then leaned down to Sai

"You can see them right, keep an eye out on the roads, if you notice any of them, Stay hidden here, they should not come after you, but just in case I want you to stay here for a while, can draw them away, but I can't carry you both, someone should find you soon, I know Kiba and Neji are both out there, and Kiba has Akumaru with him, so one of them will surely come across you. See you soon Sai, don't forget to keep your head down"

Suigetsu had said nothing while Kakashi spoke to Sai, but as they began to move away, Sai could see the Panic etched upon the young mans face. Even had Sai wanted to say anything to comfort Naruto's friend, he did not get a chance to, for as soon as Kakashi moved away he hoisted the fair haired boy over his shoulder and… flew?

For all accounts it looked like he flew, though in reality he just jumped really high really fast. Sai could only look on as the pair got further and further away.

He kept down for a while, just like he had been told to, as a small group of men passed him by, he hugged close to a short wall, only taking a moment to peer over the top of it briefly, the men where stocky though, they wore black and all of them seemed to be carrying weapons, they looked like guns, but Sai could see that the bullet chamber was different, they did not appear to shoot bullets at all in fact, and if he had to guess, he would have thought them to be used to house something longer by far.

It took a moment for them to leave, as they seemed pretty focused on the area, but a shout from one of the slighter in the group set them all in motion once again.

After they left, silence began to flood Sai's ears, his heart was pounding and his lungs burned from the short yet rapid run, it took him a moment before he stood up and looked around him.

Naruto was nowhere to be seen, neither was Sasuke or anyone else for that matter, a Bang was heard in the distance and then a screech from what sounded like a car. The rush of adrenaline began to leave him, and in its place panic took over, he started smartly as he heard an engine roar not to far away from where he was standing now, what was going on? It was like he has stepped into the twilight zone. Where had Naruto gone? Why did his drama teacher have a red eye like that and the ability to move in that way? And why was Kiba walking beside a giant dog?

Wait, a Giant dog? He rubbed at his eyes, as obviously he was seeing things, but no matter how many times he rubbed he still saw the dog, but now there was more, there was something sitting on the dogs back, or more half laying on it, it took a moment for Sai to recognise the bloodied up face as Sasuke's, he was gripping to the dogs neck, but that was about as much as he was able to manage, as even as he looked at Sai, he could not even muster a glare. Sai recognised Mairu over Kiba's shoulder, she was hanging lifelessly over him, her arms swaying as he moved. Sai could make out even from that distance that one arm seemed to be darker then the other, and as he focused on it he noticed how it was the veins under her skin had turned black, and not the entire arm itself, almost like her blood was infected. Kiba frowned a bit as he approached Sai, he put Mairu onto Akamaru, as that was the name of his dog, he then whispered some instructions to the class president, Sasuke seemed to register what had been said to him, as he wrapped an arm around Mairu's waist and drew her up so that she was positioned in front of him. Another quick instruction and the giant white dog bolted away from them.

This left Sai to look at the dog as it speed away and then back to the boy in front of him, Kiba did not seem like the same boy from class, his expression was serious now and his eyes were intense.

"What's going on? Where is Naruto? What happened to his Cousin? Why is Sasuke so badly injured? And where are there men running around with what I can only guess to be syringe guns? "

Kiba Listened to Sai as he began to talk, his eyes widening slightly as the questions flowed from the boy, he then frowned and then proceeded to hoist Sai over his shoulder, only saying 'I think you should come with me' It took only a second before they were air born, Sai had never screamed as much in his life, as he did in those few moments, it was only after Kiba threatened to knock him out, that Sai forced himself to stop, it was terrifying, but after a while it was exhilarating, the wind tearing through his hair at an alarming rate, threatening to steal the breath from his lungs, the plunging of his stomach as they dropped to another roof, the trill as they rebounded once again and took off to the sky, it was better then any rollercoaster he had ever been on, and he was actually sad when it came to a stop.

Sai could not Identify the place they had landed upon, all around him were thick woods, yet the area they had landed in was clear from all shrubbery, only a few weeds collected in the grasses, and even they did not come up very high at all. In the very center of the clearing stood an impressive boulder, it looked oddly out of place, yet gave the impression that it had always been there. Kakashi was already there, as was Sasuke and Akamaru, there were other people there also, most he did not recognise, but others he did know, like that Hinata girl from his class, she was conversing with a boy who looked a lot like her, There was that Shino boy as well all three of them were formed into a tight huddle and seemed to be discussing something important. Sai blinked a few times, it felt unreal, Sasuke was talking to Kakashi, at least he was trying to, and Kakashi was leaning into him attempting to listen to what the boy was trying to get across. There was a look cast over his way and then a silence. Something had obviously been said that warranted a serious tone, as all people close enough to Sasuke suddenly grew very tense. Sai furrowed his brow a bit before yelping at the hand that had been placed on his shoulder.

Suigetsu laughed somewhat nervously and then looked back over the group who were now talking in a rapid manner, Sasuke was coming around and was now gesturing a bit towards Sai, Suigetsu sat to the grass pulling the pale boy with him, he then flopped an arm over his shoulder.

"That Emo kid has it in for you Dumpling, I don't know what's goin' on here but I can feel the hate from here. And Peter hasn't arrived yet. I mean what the hell like, there were dudes running around, shooting people, sparks coming out of people's asses, Giant dogs and monkey boys, I mean this shit is weird!"

It was at this point that another man dropped to the clearing, he had a scar over the bridge of his nose and his hair was tied back, he looked from Kakashi to Mairu and then he said something to him while pointing to Suigetsu, There was a lot of frowning and shaking of heads, and then the group were moving towards them, the next few moments where a flurry of movement, Suigetsu was dragged away from Sai, this sending the pale boy sprawling… Again, Sai sat up just in time to see that Mairu had had her arm cut open and Suigetsu had his palm suspended over her. Suigetsu was struggling pretty badly, but Kakashi's grip was like Iron on his wrist, you could see the look of alarm that had filled the quirky boy, but everyone seemed to be oblivious to it. The drama teacher seemed to have some sort of weapon in his hand and was staring at this new fellow with the scar, though he could not possibly completly ignore Suigetsu's struggling, he was doing a very good job at it

"Are you sure about this Iruka?"

The new guy, who was now identified as Iruka was now holding a hand out to Sai, a hand that was taken somewhat unsurely, and Sai could not help but notice the soft features of this man, he seemed uncommonly friendly and it was reassuring to know that there was someone like that here. Iruka had turned away from him to reply to Kakashi, and Sai began to move closer to them, there was something a bit surreal about it all, they seemed to be taking all in there stride, like crap like this happened all the time.

"I don't know for sure Hayate, but Mairu seemed sure about it, it won't hurt to try"

This sentence did not go down well with Suigetsu, as his trashing began all the more fiercely, And with his free hand he began failing at Iruka, tears had begun to freely run down his face, and when he began screaming, his voice was cracking.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN IT WONT HURT TO TRY! YOU'RE NOT THE ONE STANDING HERE! IT WONT HURT YOU! FUCK! GET THE FUCK OFF ME!"

Suigetsu screamed as the teacher moved the blade over the boys hand, drawing out his blood, Sai jumped forward to help Suigetsu, but a hand on his shoulder held him in place, Fingers were digging into his shoulders hard, and he could do nothing but watch as Kakashi then twisted the boys arm and pressed his palm down on Mairu's shoulder, that was when things began to get bizarre, the black that had darkened the veins within Mairu's arm began to recede, and Suigetsu turned a deathly pale, Sai watched the scene wordlessly as the woman's complexion took on a more healthy look, but she did not stir. This however seemed to be enough for the people watching, as they seemed to brighten up a bit more.

"I can't believe we actually found the third child! After all those years of searching, and would you believe it! He was right under our nose all this time!"

Sai felt a bout of unfairness to the whole situation, Suigetsu had been left to sit on his own as the others began to talk about him, Sai moved towards the man, not registering that the hand that had been holding him back had gone slightly limp. He sat beside the boy and he began to rub his back, Suigetsu looked at him weakly and tried to smile before he threw up all over Sai's lap. It was not pleasant. And Sai felt his own stomach lurch. And so he just about did not register the weak voice coming from the side.

"That's nice and all, but there is still the problem of loosing Naruto."

This was enough to get Sai's interest, and he looked to see where this voice was coming from, Sasuke was still standing where he had held Sai back, he was swaying slightly, but he seemed to be a lot better then when he had seen him last, Kiba was on the other side of him leaning on his dog, he was nodding his head slowly.

"Well we have to wait, for Kurenai to get back, she might have some news on it, and if worse comes to worse, we can only hope that he can get away himself"

"And just how is he meant to do that Kiba?" Sasuke seemed to be getting more and more irritated by the minute and he was now gesturing sporadically towards his classmate. "We told him nothing about the life we lead, he has no clue as to the danger he is in, Shit we never even trained him in basic survival!"

"Naruto was trained, just not in a noticeable way. He has many skills necessary for survival. It is the way we have raised him"

This came from Shino who was usually quiet, he moved to Mairu, picking her up, he then pointedly looked to Iruka who began to make some weird shapes with his hands, and just when Sai thought things could not get any weirder, the earth began to move, literally, Sai watched bug eyed as the boulder they had landed near, began to move backwards, when it pushed back fully, it revealed a hidden stairways. The boy with the glasses disappeared down the stairs first; he was then promptly followed by Kakashi, then Iruka. Sasuke waited a few moments before he also followed the with Hinata and the other boy that was with her, and that left Sai, Suigetsu, Kiba and his dog Akamaru, Kiba turned to the pair and smiled slightly.

" You might want to come down stairs with us, I am sure there is an outfit you can change into down there, and while we are at it you can explain to me just what the men you saw looked like yea? I have to say, I am impressed by your attention to details, we might be able to do something with that."

Kiba had proceeded to pick Suigetsu up in his arms as he was talking, it was only then that Sai realised that the boy had passed out after throwing up, and he also remembered that he had a lap full of vomit, he turned a shade of grey, and the wild looking boy just smiled sympathetically and gestured him to go down.

--

Naruto could not know how long he had been out for, it might have been minutes, then again it might have been hours. He had a feeling that he was dreaming, there was something on the edge of his perception, it felt like something was watching him, after a moment there was a low growl, but Naruto could not tell where it was coming from, the room he was standing in was very strange, there was pipes all along the walls and ceiling and his feet was submerged in water, he began to move, and as he did, he felt a dread grow within him, he turned around and started to run away, but as he did so, the water began to rise. Something caught on his foot and he tripped, the pounding of his heart flooded into his ears as his head fell below the murky water enveloping him, he began to panic.

The next thing Naruto knew, he was choking on water, his eyes shot open and he bolted to the side, Hands hit to cold stone and he began to retch, though there was nothing to throw up, he made a good attempt at it anyway, again and again his stomach lurched, and it took a moment for him to realise that someone ad put a bucket under him. He sat back and took a deep breath, he was disorientated, the last few hours of his life were a blur, so looking around it took him a moment to realise that he was not at the dance, and a few seconds more to realise that the face before him was not that of Sai.

Dark eyes looked at him as comprehension dawned, going from confusion to fear and then to Panic, the man did not seem to react to any of this though, he just sat there and waited, he did nothing as the blond began to scream and shift away from him, and he did nothing as the blond the began to pound on the door to get out, infact the man did nothing at all until another person in the room moved. Naruto found his fists held aloft and his body pressed flush against the other man, he tried the scream, but the man presses his forehead against his own and pursed his lips to form a shhing sound, then a quiet voice filled his mind, had his lips not been moving, Naruto would have sworn he was speaking directly to his mind, as clichéd as that might sound, but that was how it seemed, it took a little while, but slowly Naruto calmed down and began to listen to what the man was saying.

"….. irritated by to much noise, I will be bringing you the things you require as you are my charge, but do not mistake your position here, You will be trained and you will do as you are told when the time comes, you will listen to what I tell you and do exactly as I say. For now, you should drink your water, Do not disturb that boy over there, he is volatile and unused to company, I will be bringing food back in an hour, while I am gone I suggest you do not sleep again, your mind is weak against the beast that has been unleashed within you, so I can not allow you to rest unaccompanied"

Hands left go of his wrists and Naruto's arms fell limply to his side, he stood for a moment trying to take in everything that was said, but the man who had been talking turned to leave, Naruto took a moment to look at him, he was slightly taller then he was, he had long brown black hair, his eyes were dark and tired looking, but his face was striking, he for all intents was incredibly pretty, and Naruto mentally slapped himself for even registering that, what the hell, just because he was interested in one guy, did it mean the floodgates opened for him to now look at all men in a different light? He furrowed his brow and shook of the thought of it, of course it didn't it just meant that this guy was pretty, and that Naruto noticed it, nothing more then that. It was then at that moment that a thought occurred to him. He did not know his would be keepers name; he took a step forward and gripped to his arm

"Wait!"

The man froze and Naruto looked at his hand for a moment before letting go of that arm, snapping it back as if something burnt him, the look he received from the man was one of curiosity and slight annoyance. He just looked at Naruto until the blond became uncomfortable enough to look away all together. It was then that another voice entered the room, the sound of it sending chills down his spine.

"Will you be standing there in silence all day? Or do you actually intend on doing something"

The other boy in the corner shifted so Naruto could look into the palest green eyes he had every seen in his life, lips parted slightly and then he looked back to the other man who had a slight smirk on his face, Naruto took a step back and shifted slightly on the spot.

"it was nothing, I, I was just wondering what I should call you?"

The other man said nothing and just left. The sound of the door closing echoed throughout the room, leaving Naruto in and uncomfortable silence, he stood there for what seemed like an eternity before he sat to the floor. The splash that accompanied the action did not seem to be in place, and it took a further moment for Naruto to register that his underwear had suddenly become very wet very fast. A look of horror passed over his face and was shortly followed by a slight yip and he jumped back to his feet.

"Water! There is water on the floor!"

"My my, you are the observant one aren't you"

Naruto glared over to the Red head, but his features softened slightly, the boy seemed small, sitting in that corner like he was, he gave the look of an abandoned puppy. It was enough to move Naruto's feet towards him, sloshing through the water he noticed how it was not very deep, but very cold despite the sun beating down on them, this caused Naruto to look up, it for all intents appeared that they were in a well. Above them was a grate covering the entrance to the cavity. A few wisps of sand flowed sporadically hitting of platforms the jutted out all the way up. As he came closer to the boy, Naruto realised just how tired the boy looked, the hollow of his eyes was completely darkened and his expression was that of a resigned acceptance.

He sat next to the boy, leaving a bit of distance between them, he rested his back to the wall behind him and rested his hands on raised knees. Silence flooded the room once again, but Naruto saw from the corner of his eye, that the boy kept looking towards him, eventually a small smile crept to the blonds face and he rested his head back to the wall. For a moment he felt like he was going to drift of to sleep, but a hand to his arm jolted him back awake, Shockingly blue eyes caught to the deadened green of the other boys, he said nothing for a moment but eventually shook his head.

"Don't go to sleep"

It seemed as thought that was all the boy was going to say, as slender fingers slipped away from Naruto's arm and hugged back to his body. Naruto was frowning again, he was not prepared to just do as he was told, he had done enough of that before, and look at how that left him.

"Why not?"

This got the redhead looking at him again, this time it was his turn to look confused

"Because if you go back to sleep, the nightmares will start"

He said it in such a matter-of-fact way that it sent a shiver down Naruto's spine, suppressing a shudder he then turned more to the boy beside him, even though the boy was once more facing away.

"Do you have nightmares too then?"

There was a silence to that Question

"Have you been here long?"

Now the boy turned to face Naruto once again, but remained silent.

"Urm…. My name is Naruto…. What's yours?"

His brow creased, and it was then that Naruto noticed that the boy had no eyebrows, but as though to make up for it he had a tattoo upon his forehead of the kanji for love, the boy seemed to be annoyed, but it did not reflect as much in his voice

"Do you like to ask questions that will not be answered?"

Naruto just smiled and shook his head a bit.

"I dunno, perhaps if I ask enough I might get an answer"

This lightened the features of the boy a bit more and he cocked his head to the side

"Or you might get beaten up"

Naruto grinned to the redhead and punched his arm slightly

"Hey, it will pass the time at least"

The red head seemed slightly taken aback for a moment from the contact, he held to his arm for more then a moment and then looked up to Naruto and smiled slightly

"Gaara"

"What?"

"That's my name, Gaara, the man who was with you was Itatchi, there is another one that comes in from time to time named Sasori, he will paralyze us so the leader with the peircings can check our beasts"

Naruto looked a bit confused and rested back against the wall again

"Yeah, that Itchy guy said something about a beast, what did he mean by that?"

If he could have, Gaara would have tilted his head further to the side, this Naruto boy seemed to be utterly oblivious to the predicament that he was in, could it be that he was completely unaware of just what he was a host to?

" We are hosts to the great beasts of the ancient worlds, in our bodies, we hold unbridled power, you have been brought here to become a weapon like I am"

Naruto could only look at him in disbelief to the words that had so freely been spoken by the boy sitting next to him, and as if to voice this, he could only repeat the word that did not seem to fit…

"Weapon?"


	14. demons and truths

_To everyone watching this story, I appologise for the delays, I have not been to well and I have college to attend to now, but so you know, I have not given up on it, so please bare with me, And thank you everyone who has reviewed!!!_

* * *

The stairway was dark, and Sai needed to keep a hand to the wall at first before his eyes adjusted, to say the area below was vast, would be an understatement, it was like a city underground, as the space opened up, Sai could see lights in the distance, some areas were better light the others. Kiba was leading him away from where the main group was going, Sai looked over to the group as they drew further away, he was frowning hard, he turned back to Kiba then.

"Where has Naruto gone?"

Kiba faltered slightly in his stride, but then continued walking, it was a moment before he said anything at all and even then his words were hushed.

"We are not sure where he has been taken too, but we are working on finding him…"

Sai frowned… one thing struck him in that sentence and he frowned even harder then… 'Taken' Naruto have been taken? What? Why would anyone want to take Naruto? Sai quickened his pace slightly to come level with Kiba, but before he could open his mouth to talk, his words were cut short.

"It's too complicated to explain right now Sai, but Naruto is very important, we have been trying to keep him hidden for some time now, but as you saw tonight, we have failed to protect him… but we will get him back, so don't worry to much okay?"

Kiba gave Sai what he thought to be a comforting smile, it looked more feral then comforting, but Sai forced a smile back, and that seemed to be enough to satisfy Kiba, they continued walking for a bit more, till the arrived at a plain door, Kiba kicked it open (as he still had Suigetsu in his arms) and entered, Sai stalled for a moment, but eventually followed the wild looking boy in.

The room inside was clean enough, there was a bed in the corner, that Suigetsu was being laid upon, a table, and a doorway leading off to a kitchen area, and another door that was closed off, there was also a huge basket in the corner, and the dog that Sai has seen earlier was now curled up inside it.

As Sai entered the room, the dog raised his head to look at him, Sai took a step away from the dog then and Kiba laughed.

"Don't worry, Akamaru wont bite you unless I tell him too, he is lovely otherwise, you can go through that door there to have a shower if you want too, I am going to get something to eat, then we can try to find you some cloths, I know I have some spare pants, but I don't think my tops would fit you very well…"

Sai said nothing, he was just trying to take in what was going on, everything was moving too quickly for him to comprehend just what was happening, but as his class mate began to move for the door, Sai found himself reaching out and gripping the boy by his arm.

"Wait! Please… just…"

The look in the pale boy's eyes became desperate, and Kiba was at a loss of what to do, so he looked away and shook his head slightly.

"There is a lot I to tell you Sai, but right now there are too many loose ends, later okay? Just try and get some rest"

The door closed and Sai was left all but alone, the silence stretched on for what felt like hours, eventually he ended up resting by Suigetsu. His head leaning against the mattress as he sat to the floor, Suigetsu's breathing had stabilized, but what had they done to him in the first place?

Everything seemed so clinical, emotionless, only Kiba seemed to have any feelings towards them, and even that seemed… forced, what the hell was going on in here? The large white dog came to Sai and rested next to him, fingers drifted to the dog's soft fur without much thought. Akamaru whined slightly and Sai looked down. In doing so he saw the vomit that had dried into his clothing, and as tradition, only then did he register the smell that was being emitted.

Sitting there in the darkness was achieving nothing, so Sai moved to the room that had been gestured to, stripped down, and thought over the happenings as he showered.

--

Gaara was a wealth of information on these beast things, he explained how they had an un natural source of energy that was referred to as 'chakra' with them it all sounded rater impossible to him, but the more the redhead explained, the more things became clear to Naruto, and he began to understand the situation he was in.

"you see that's where you are losing me, I get that you have some beasty inside you, and that when you go to sleep it takes over and all that, but, I am not like that, I mean seriously, I am just a normal kid, I mean sure things got a bit weird, what with people I know having red eyes, and me healing fast and stuff, but maybe it had something to do with those experiments you were talking about… I don't think I could be a weapon like you are saying…"

Naruto's laugh was nervous, he knew that he was making a poor excuse, but he did not want to believe it. After all, he was just an ordinary guy, a guy that was playing puck in a play, and knew how to dance. Not a weapon, or container to a weapon, that just wasn't him at all, he turned to look at the red head again, but cool green eyes were looking to the wall facing them. No expression, only a deep set tiredness, and a voice to match it.

"Believe what you will, it will make no difference when Pien come, he will force out your beast and drive you to grow stronger, in time he will tame you. And you will acknowledge him as your master."

Naruto frowned and made to retort, but it was clear the conversation was over. And it was quiet, and it stayed quiet.

Naruto was left to his thoughts, so many thoughts that he did not know where to begin in sorting them. Everything that had happened, Mairu was dead, or so he believed, his class president had all but confessed to him, which looking back on the situation was slightly poor timing to do so, this got Naruto smiling a bit, and he had confessed to Sai…

That made his smile disappear, it seemed that just when he found a bit of happiness, it had been taken from him… his brow furrowed deeply, and he did not notice the red head looking at him intensely from the side, his thoughts had turned to the raven haired boy he had taught to dance. Was he alright? The fighting had gotten pretty bad by the end; even Naruto had gathered that much, what if something happened to him?

He brought his head forward and cradled it in his arms, leaning to his knees for support, he was not going to cry, it would be useless to do that, but now he had a headache, so he did the thing he was warned not to do, he fell asleep.

--

Sai was sitting wrapped in nothing but a towel for a long time while waiting on Kiba to return, in between Suigetsu had woken up twice, vomited once, this time to the floor, and thankfully not his lap, and Akamaru proved himself to be rather clever, as he directed the boy around the kitchen to find things to clean things up.

When Kiba returned some hours later, he was greeted with a half naked man sitting to the edge of his bed. In truth Kiba had forgotten he had told Sai to shower, so he was not really prepared to see him in the current state of undress, but the obsidian eyes that were gazing at him over a fresh cup of tea, suggested that they were expecting him.

Suigetsu had a cool towel placed to his head, but he did not seem to be feverish anymore, Kiba moved to his side and removed the cloth, he was silent, he was trying to form the right words, but Sai's gaze was persistent, and soon Kiba found he could not avoid it.

He handed the boy some cloths and moved to the kitchen.

"Get dressed, we will talk then"

Sai took the clothes and moved to the shower room, it was not that he was shy, but something felt a little off, so throwing nakedness in the situation did not seem like a good step forward. Though the clothes he was given did not leave much to the imagination, the trousers were too short, so Sai decided to wear them low so they did not look to ridiculous, and the top seemed to be missing parts, like a sleeve for one, and a midriff for another, and the shoes had the toes cut out of them. He brushed back his hair a bit and shook his head slightly at what he was wearing. The only saving grace was that they did not smell like vomit.

Moving back to the main room, he took note that Suigetsu was leaning forward in the bed, Kiba was patting his back and holding a basin in front of him. Sai frowned and moved towards the pair.

"What did they do to him?"

Kiba looked up, and then returned his gaze to the ailing boy.

"I think I should explain what's going on first before I can answer that… Sai? Do you know what Chakra is?"

Another frown appeared on his brow, Sai felt he should be the one answering questions, not the other way around, but he indulged Kiba in this.

"Isn't it the energy they talk about in Buddhism? Something to do with the life in our bodies, or something like that?"

Kiba nodded slightly and moved to a drawer, he took out an old fashioned scroll and began to unfurl it over a table top.

"Something like that yes, 60 years ago, after world war two, the nation of Japan began researching this energy, I am sure you have heard of the term 'Ninja'? Back in feudal times, they were used as weapon to the lords of the lands, mysteries shrouded them, and tales were told of unexplainable acts, defying gravity, walking on water, taking the minds of other. Of course everyone took them as tales of fancy, never paying them any heed. That was until a power cut hit a local town in Okinawa. No one could explain it, but the energy felt there was insurmountable. Researchers began to investigate this phenomenon, and eventually one man named Sarutobi made a connection with an ancient text depicting a great beast of spiritual energy, it was named as the one tailed demon, or Shikaku."

Kiba pointed to a depiction at this point showing a raccoon like beast drawn with ink upon the page, Sai stared at it and found a chill riding up his spine as he looked to the lifeless eyes on the page, and a strange sense of foreboding came over him. He looked back to Kiba, and the wild boy took this as a sign to continue.

"Along with this text where tails of the same type of energy with in special humans, these people were taken at a young age to be trained as Ninja's. Sometimes they were kidnapped from their homes, sometimes they were offered by proud parents, but they always had the same trait. They had uncommon skills from a young age. This fact seemed to excite the researchers, and it was decided that they would begin a project to find people of a similar trait, and run experiments on them"

Sai looked appalled by the thoughts of this, but Kiba could only smile slightly, it was Natural he thought, for an outsider to view it in such a way, but it was just after the war, and times were desperate, so Kiba saw no wrong in it. He refreshed Sai's tea and his own; he did not notice a new set of eyes watching him as he did this, and so continued talking.

"After years of research, a lot of children going missing, and some failed experiments, they finally began to understand the nature of the energy, naming it as Chakra, as it was in fact the meditations of Buddhist monks, that proved to be the most efficient at the beginning in drawing it to the surface. It quickly became apparent that different people, had different skills, though some remained the same. There was a boost in speed; an ability to climb, to make standard illusions, even to walk on water, all the texts seemed to be proving true. But then some families began to develop beyond others. Creating what we called bloodlines. Sasuke is one of them, as is Hinata…"

Sai held his hand up to stop Kiba, his expression was serious, he was listening, but he was failing to see how this had anything to do with Naruto and Suigetsu. And he said as much to Kiba, but the wild boy simply waved his hand slightly and resumed speaking

"It will make sense soon. Of the groups, one stood out clearly, This group was Uzumaki Kushina's, the family line did not have any particular strength, but a high level of ability, they could mimic any technique after seeing them only once, but not in regards of the blood line that the Uchiha family used, it was pure unrestrained talent. But their chakra levels were low, so they could never become of use, but in marriage a child was born that could have a great talent."

"Naruto" this coming from Sai, and Kiba Nodded

"Yes, Kushina married a man named Minato, A researcher under Sarutobi, this man had immense chakra reserves, and it was evident from the day Naruto was born, he had inherited this ability. It was decided a few months after the birth, that Naruto and three other children would be used in an experiment. It was one designed to seal in the great spiritual beasts. Naruto, two other infants, and a seven year old where used in the experiment. During which Sarutobi died, as did the mother of one child. But the goal was achieved; the creatures had been sealed away in human hosts. The ultimate weapons or the ultimate protectors. With Sarutobi dead, that left Minato in charge. But not everyone was pleased with this. A battle broke out, and the children were separated. Minato took Naruto and his wife away, they lived as simple life, not telling anyone where they had gone too, Gaara, the second child, was captured by the opposing side, lead by a man named Uchiha Madara. The fourth Child was capable of fighting by that age, and proved to be the force that swayed to battle to our favor. But the third child. His mother carried him away in the confusion, and up to a few days ago, no one knew of his whereabouts. But then he turned up on Mairu's doorstep, asking for Naruto. If it had been anyone else other then Mairu, we may never have found him."

"Mairu… You mean… Peter's chick girl he lives with?"

Two pairs of eyes turned to look at Suigetsu sitting up in the bed, He had of course been listening to every word that had been spoken, and it did not take him long to pin two and two together. He still looked pale, but he was at least calm now, he was looking Kiba dead in the eye, and his voice was subdued now.

"You're saying I am one of those kids right? That's why you did that... with my hand…"

Suigetsu was shaking, and Sai moved over to him to try and comfort him a bit, the story seemed all a bit surreal, but then again, Sai could not deny what had been happening recently either. Kiba was pouring out something to a cup, and then returned to speaking as he handed it to Suigetsu.

"Suigetsu was it? Well, I won't flower the truth, you are one of the children, the fact you removed the poison from Mairu's body is the proof of that. In you, was placed the spirit of the three tailed Fish. This is a creature tied to the element of water, it has the ability to draw chakra within its body, and use these reserves to cure the most deadly of wounds. Your hand should be healed by now."

Suigetsu could not resist but to look at his hand, and true enough, there was no mark left to the skin. Sai was also looking, but then returned his gaze to Kiba, as the boy was not finished.

"Your blood though, that was the important part, as it had the potential to heal any poison it came into contact with, even if it was not within the host body. This combined with the abilities of the two other infants, Naruto, and Gaara, gave way to a potentially devastating weapon. Naruto's blood is like a deadly poison, killing mere milliseconds after entering a victim's blood stream, Gaara could control the loose earth or sand that was around him, freely forming it into whatever shape he could think of. It was suggested that the three children be made into a unit. Gaara was to be trained to create projectiles that would pierce Naruto, soaking them with blood. Then in turn using the blood soaked sand to swiftly dispatch the enemy, and should any of our side be struck in the confusion, they would each carry an injection of Suigetsu's blood with them. The plan seemed perfect. But with Sarutobi gone, Minato now had control, and he was not prepared to sacrifice the children's lives so freely. The battle you witnessed, is just the beginning of what I fear will turn into a large scale war. We have operatives searching for clues as to Naruto's whereabouts. but right now, all we can do is sit and wait. And possibly train hard till such a time comes as we may need to fight"

Suigetsu drank from the cup given to him, and Sai stood up and began pacing the room. It was all a bit too much to take in, surely to god this had to be some elaborate rouse, how could something like this be really happening? But no one jumped out yelling 'just kidding' and Sai felt a weight grow within him, he stopped dead and turned to Kiba.

"What will happen to Naruto?"

Kiba frowned a bit and shrugged softly

"No one can be sure, all we can do is be prepared for when we do find him, as it stands, we may end up fighting against him, but if you want to help us to get him back… there might be someone who can help you do that… Sai, I would like you to talk to our village leader…"

--

_Drip….drip…..drip_

"What is that?"

_Drip….drip…..drip_

Naruto opened his eyes to find himself in a world filled with water, he was immersed in it, but strangely he could breath, he began swimming to the noise, the dripping he could hear, down one corridor, around a corner, up a pipe, he pulled himself free of the water only to find himself in a room with two large gates, on the gates was a sign that read one word. Seal. He could hear breathing, a deep rise and fall of something immense, and then he heard a voice, so deep and laced with malcontent, that it made Naruto's blood run cold.

"_**So… you finally reached me boy…"**_

"Who are you?"

Two glowing eyes appeared from behind the cage, and Naruto felt paralyzed, the murderous intent pouring from behind those bars was suffocating, and Naruto found himself choking.

"_**I am your bijuu boy, I am your power. But they have sealed me. They are trapping your potential, they don't want you to be free, so they have locked me way in this cell and broke our contact, but now, now you can stop that, you can free us both, just remove the seal…"**_

Naruto managed to look up, he could clearly see the seal above him, but something felt wrong, something was telling him not to do it, not to remove the barrier. But the eyes persisted, and soon Naruto felt his arms reaching upward…

"_**That's it… just pull it free Naruto…"**_

He gripped to the bottom of the paper

"_**A bit more…"**_

Now hands stopped moving

"_**Naruto… Naruto?!"**_

"NARUTO!!"

Eyes shot open to see the man Itachi straddling him. His face stung, and it took the blond a moment to realize that he had been slapped into consciousness, Gaara was sitting across the room looking at the pair, but not commenting, there was another man in the room this time, he was old looking and very bent. But Naruto focus was brought back to the man in front of him, as he was dragged to his feet.

"We will begin your training today, now."


	15. Training!

_This I have to say, has been the hardest chapter that I have had to write to date, it has stumped me more then once… sorry for the long delay._

Sai's Journey

Kiba led Sai down the winding paths that lead through the underground facility. He had said it was a secret village they named Konoha, and just looking at it now, Sai could see why he called it a village. It was huge! They walked to what seemed to be the centre, a large pillar sat in the middle, the main support, and then there were about twenty more surrounding, as they drew closer to the pillar in the centre, Sai noticed it seemed to have rooms dug out in it, a staircase wound its way up, and soon the pair were climbing upwards, Kiba was complaining that walking like this took too long, but Sai did not see any other means.

It took a full half hour of walking to reach the room Kiba was looking for, and upon entering the room, Kiba was gone. This left Sai on his own in a very round room. Inside there was very little furniture, only a desk and one couch. All around the walls were shelves, with hundreds of books. And indeed on the desk there were piles of books and maps, Sai found himself intrigued, and was compelled to move. There were books about everything he could possibly have imagined, sciences of the human body, exploring the brain and its higher functions, use of drugs to enhance physical ability, that was just the start. He thumbed his way along a few of them, before he jumped to a stop.

Out of nowhere, a woman appeared. She was... a curvaceous lady to say the least, and Sai found his eye line filled with cleavage. When he did eventually bring his view upwards, the face to greet him was not very pleased.

"What do you think you are doing in my office?"

Sai felt the blood rushing to his cheeks, the woman was very angry and Sai's mind went blank, he stood there like a fish out water, The woman repeated herself and Sai jumped

"Kiba, he... well I mean, After Naruto, I was brought here. Kiba said something about me being able to help"

The woman's features softened greatly and she gestured towards a chair in front of the crowded desk

"You must be Sai, Kiba told me about you."

Sai sat down, it was strange the situation he found himself in, but for some reason, he wasn't panicking , he guessed that this woman was the leader here, so he decided to ask her some questions.

"What's going to happen to Naruto?"

The woman frowned and then waved her hand aback and forth a bit, she opened a ledger in front of her and then bit down on her thumb, and actually drew blood, Sai cringed when he saw this, but the woman didn't even seem to notice the minor injury.

"We are not here to talk about Naruto, we are here for you, now give me your hand Sai."

Sai frowned but held out his hand regardless, there was something about this woman that commanded respect, and Sai would admit to being slightly afraid of her. She took his hand and in a flash Pain flooded up his arm, Sai let out a yelp, a few tears budding to the corner of his eyes, but that was all, as the sensation that took over next distracted him from the pain, his hand had been placed on the page the woman had open, there was a strange symbol on there, and as soon as it made contact, Sai felt firstly his blood rushing out of his body to etch around the symbols, and then a warm sensation flood his body, like someone was pouring warm water over him, but only on the inside.

The woman was nodding her head, and Sai became aware of a blue light enveloping him, he did not know what it meant, but the woman was clearly impressed. She stood up and moved around to him, feeling his arms and legs, Sai was more then a little uncomfortable, but he let her do it anyway. After she was done she stood before him.

"Just how much do you want to help Naruto?"

Sai stood up then without thinking and he clenched his fists tightly.

"I would do anything, please tell me what I have to do!"

The woman smiled and the put a hand on his shoulder.

"You will have to train, you have more then enough Chakra to join us, but your muscle strength is lacking, but I say training with Kiba for a few weeks should help you greatly. Also, Kiba mentioned you draw, I think there might be something we can do with that."

With that she walked to her book shelves taking down an old picture tome, it seemed like ancient Japanese art, but beside the main picture was a drawing of a small man holding a scroll from which the main artwork was coming from. She handed this book to Sai, who took it carefully, it seemed like it would fall apart if not handled correctly. After that the woman sat behind her desk once again.

"now Sai, your strength training will begin tomorrow at 6am, during the evening, you should study that book, I can not promise to make you a fully trained ninja, but you will be stronger. Dismissed"

The pale boy stood up, book in hand, and made his way towards the door of the round room, just as he was about to open it, the woman spoke again

"Sai, Before I forget, My name is Tsunade. I am the village leader here, if there are any problems, you should come to me."

"Right… I- I will do that…"

Leaving the office Sai began to wonder, firstly he wondered just where he was meant to be going, and then he wondered how he was going to get there, as he had no idea where anywhere was, then thoughts of home came to him, was he going to get to go back home now? Or did he have to remain here… with that thought in his head, he hardly noticed Kiba coming up to him, the arm slung over his shoulder made him jump slightly, and Kiba laughed heartly.

"well we will need to work on your observational skills a bit more."

Sai looked at Kiba and then frowned.

"I wont get to go home will I?"

It was Kiba's turn to frown, he removed his arm from Sai's shoulder and proceeded to fold them across his chest.

"Sai… you have to understand, we need to keep this villiage as secret as possible"

"so I don't get to go home do I?"

"It's not so bad here, you will get your own room eventually, and there are a lot of people in our community"

"Kiba! Do I get to go home or not!"

"No… I'm sorry Sai, but.. this is over my head, They would have seen us carry you away, you are compromised, it would be too dangerous to let you leave in your current state"

"In my current state?"

"Well yeah, I mean, if you could travel without being traced, we would have no reason to stop you from leaving… but seriously, that could take years"

"I'm a quick learner"

"Sai.."

"Don't Sai me! I don't want to hear you telling me what I can not do, the quicker we start this training, the quicker I can help Naruto and go home!"

With that the pale boy stormed ahead of Kiba, and Kiba just followed behind, it took them less then ten minutes to reach Kiba's apartment, and the wild boy said nothing as they entered, but he was slightly impressed that Sai had found the way on his own. After only having been shown there once, it was very interesting. But Sai seemed in much too bad a mood to notice. After entering the small apartment, the pale boy made straight for the small kitchen and laid the book on the table, completely immersing himself within its pages.

Suigetsu was looking at Sai as this happened, and then looked to Kiba.

"Whats going on?"

Kiba frowned and shook his head, petting Akamaru as he sat to the end of the bed and looked at Sai himself.

"Nothing much, just a man on a mission"

--

Naruto's Journey

This did not feel much like training, he had been sitting still with his legs crossed for the last half an hour, just breathing deeply, looking for something he didn't really get.

'It is not that hard… Just feel the energy flow within you '

'Says you, all I can feel right now is the damp on my butt and a desperate need to pee'

This Itachi fellow did not seem amused by his quip at all, but just told him to resume his training, Naruto closed his eyes and began to breath deeply again, his thoughts wandering as they did to the events that had recently taken place. With all the thoughts in his mind he did not even notice the man advancing and bearing down upon him.

"Focus."

Naruto's eyes snapped open and he glared at the man.

"Focus on what? You tell me to feel some mystical energy that will unlock some freaky magical powers, but I don't even know what I am meant to be looking for! As a teacher you really suck."

Naruto crossed his arms and glared at the wall then, why was he even co-operating with them, they kidnapped him for crying out. Then the weird dreams start, and now they are freaking out over him 'not having control of his beast' well he was doing fine till they showed up! Maybe if they just left him alone, things would go back to normal.

"your blood"

Naruto looked over to Gaara who was sitting alone in the corner, he was not looking at them at all, his back was facing them in fact, but it had been him who had spoken.

"What?"

'concentrate on your blood first'

"what do you mean?"

Gaara looked over his shoulder for a moment, and then back to the wall.

" I found it helped me to focus on the flow of my blood at first… when you become aware of that, you begin to feel the other flow of energy within your body, your chakra flow"

Naruto stood up from his seat and moved over to Gaara, leaving a stoic looking Itachi merely looking at the pair of them.

"And just what does this chakra do?"

Gaara shook his head slightly and turned tired looking eyes back towards the blond.

" It's the flow of life, it exists in all living things, and when used properly, it can enhance your physical abilities, mental abilities and it can also help you to perform special techniques.

"Riiiiight…."

Naruto looked back to Itachi and just frowned slightly.

"just how is this meant to help me, I mean, I never knew about this before, and I never had any problems, so why do I need it now all of a sudden"

"Pain weakened your seal, giving you access to the beasts powers, but you are untrained, we did not expect that. Once you have the ability to control you chakra, the Kyubi will not be a problem to you, now return to your seat and resume your training"

Naruto did as he was told, Itachi, though quiet, was the nicest out of the group he had met so far, Pain the one with the weird eye was pretty bad, but not the worst of them, there was a blond that brought in their food, Naruto thought it was a girl at first, till he spoke, and he looked normal enough until Naruto saw the mouths on his hands. There was a guy that freaked Naruto out entirely, his name was Kisami, he usually just stood around when Pain and Sasori would be doing examinations on him. Sasori was rather odd, Naruto did not know what to make of him at all.

But if that was not bad enough, Naruto found that Gaara was also slightly weird, he would feel the red head staring at him all the time when he thought he wasn't looking. And when Naruto would appear to be asleep (only after having some kind of paper tag put on him) He would hear Gaara talk to himself about how unsettling it was to have another person near him. But he pitied the red head too, the boy seemed entirely inept at human interaction, and seeing as they were cell mates. Naruto felt it was only his duty to befriend him, so far it was not going so well.

After a few days, Naruto was beginning to make progress with his training, but still Gaara had said no more then a few sentances here and there, and usually nothing in the ways of conversation, and more like pointers to get the blond to shut up. After a session Naruto placed himself squarely beside Gaara, sitting closer then was necessary.

"Hey Gaara, how long have you been here?"

"………."

"You know how to do this Chakra thing, does that mean you have magic powers too?"

Gaara gave him a slight look, but it did not last for long.

"…….."

"Kinda boring here, I mean, I know I hated living with Mai…"

As Naruto began speaking her name, he thought of the last time he saw his cousin, a slight frown appeared on his face and his tone softened, causing Gaara to actually look at him as he spoke now

"with Mairu… but this is a bit of a downer… anything is better then the nothingness we are getting here…"

Gaara continued to look at Naruto for a long moment, the blond was not looking at him now, just staring at the water with a thoughtful face, it intrigued him

"Mairu?"

Naruto just glanced to the side and shrugged slightly

"My cousin, I lived with her after my parents disappeared, she was kinda horrible to me, but at least she… well she had good intentions I guess, kinda a lot to take in, I thought she hated me, but… well I was wrong I guess"

Gaara frowned himself, not really understanding how the blond came to that conclusion

"Why?"

Naruto took three deep breaths and rested his head back against the wall

"She died for me, I fought against her, and she got shot. All to try and save my sorry ass, and what happens? I go and get caught anyway… if I had just listened to her in the first place, none of this would have happened…"

Once again Gaara was frowning, the blond was berating himself over someone dying, and it being his fault, but Gaara saw little reason to feeling this guilt, after all, they were only meant to be weapons only, other people just got in the way. But he did understand one thing, the last thing Naruto said made him nod a little.

"Yes it is true we must do as we are told, it is the easiest way. Why did you not listen to this Mairu?"

Narutos answer did not come right away, his face seemed to twist up slightly and he was biting his lip a bit.

"Sai"

That was all Naruto said, and after a few moments Gaara found himself growing impatient, wanting to hear more.

"Sai?"

What Gaara saw then was completely new, a raw look of pain flashed across Naruto's eyes, it was something Gaara could not Identify. Then the blond stood up abrubtly.

"You would not understand"

Naruto paced away from Gaara then and looked up the shaft to the metal grid high above him.

"I need to get out of here…"

--

Not a great chapter I know, but it was really acting up like a stubourn Mule. I will try to make the next one better, Should I separate the Naruto and Sai stories into different chapters?


	16. Determination

_It's been a month now, and I am not progressing enough, though I have learned far more then they expected me to in the time I have been here, it is not enough for me at all. Everyday I am on a strict schedule, muscle workouts, speed painting, chakra building, jutsu memorizing, that's just the basics. Neji one of the boys from the school keeps saying how much potential I have, I just need to keep my emotions in check, but its damn hard to do that when all I can think of is how frustrating this situation is!_

_Naruto's Cousin Mairu has recovered to an extent, she is awake, but not really all there, apparently the poison did something to her head, she is unable to do whatever it was that she did anymore, they said she was a sensory type, whatever that is. They had planned on using her to find Naruto, but with her gone, they need to find a substitute._

_I got a new apartment, Suigetsu wanted to move in with me, but he ended up with one beside me instead, I go to see him every night, just to help keep him sane I guess. Kiba visits me too, he is not bad, but a bit infuriating when he proceeds to walk up a wall, knowing full well I can hardly manage a clone yet._

_Though he did take a letter to my auntie, telling her that I was safe, but would not be able to come home for a while. She sent one back to me asking me if she could help me in anyway. I haven't replied to her, I don't know if I should, I mean, I know she will be worried if I don't, but she might worry more if I tell her that there is nothing she can do._

--

Sai was beginning to feel like the days were blurring into each other, training was his priority; he was trying to find the fastest ways to do things, sometimes doing two things together. Just like he was right now. He flicked the page of the book he was reading as his legs pumped the weights up and down. His hair clung to his forehead and he bit down upon his lip in concentration. Suigetsu was sitting on his bed watching him as he worked out.

"I know what you are saying Dumpling, but it's been days since you came out to the village, just relaxed"

Sai turned another page and continued reading as he answered

"Snowflake, I really don't have the time to relax, they could find Naruto any day now, and I can hardly build up enough chakra to propel me from the ground, or create a Shadow clone, let alone an ink clone. I am not strong enough, and I certainly don't have enough knowledge yet, I can't waste any time."

Suigetsu sighed a bit, it was the same conversation everyday, but usually Sai backed down after a while, but it was getting harder and harder to convince him lately. It was endearing to see how determined he was to save Peter…or Naruto he should say, but what Suigetsu was worried about, was Sai becoming a different person to achieve that goal.

But Sai seemed oblivious to it, for him it was enough just to be doing something productive. There was silence for a while, only being broken as Suigetsu went to make himself some tea, getting Sai water as he did so. It was not uncomfortable though, Suigetsu had studying of his own to do, and much to Sai's irritation, he was making more progress at cloning. After a few minutes Sai closed the book he was reading and took the pressure of his legs. He looked at Suigetsu and smiled softly then.

"I know you are only trying to help me Snowflake, but you don't have to worry. Besides, there is nothing out there for me anyway; my Family is up above, so the better I get, the sooner I get … We get out of here."

Suigetsu grinned his lopsided grin and put the book he was reading to the floor, leaving it spread open.

"I was reading here that sometimes Chakra can be blocked by to much stress Sai, no joke, I bet if we go down to that noodle bar in the village, you will be able to concentrate more on making your ink animals."

Sai put down the now empty glass to the counter in his apartment and looked to the white haired boy sitting on his floor. Suigetsu was nice to be around, but he really never gave up.

"And just what gave you that idea?"

Suigetsu just slide the book across the floor so Sai cloud read it, an action that Sai did in fact follow through on as Suigetsu continued talking.

"Remember that time we were first trying to use our jutsus? I kept hitting you with the water bombs I was trying to absorb, and you kept getting annoyed at me for ruining your drawings"

Sai's brow twitched in irritation at the recent memory.

"Well considering it was three days ago… yeah… I think I would remember that"

Suigetsu laughed and then stood up

"Well then you should know where my idea came from, After you threw you ink bottle at me, and completely covered my face with blue ink, you burst out laughing, and for the rest of the day, all your little ink creatures made it off your page"

Sai frowned slightly

"Yeah but they didn't last very long"

"But they DID make it of your page, you've not been able to do it since then have you? I know you haven't, and its because your too wound up to focus on them right, you need to learn to control yourself man, and we should start by having a night out, That Neji guy and his cousin Himato invited us for eats, and I think we should go"

Sai shook his head slightly in defeat but smiled a little.

"Hinata"

Suigetsu, who was already heading to the door paused and looked back at Sai.

"What?"

Sai just laughed slightly and began to follow the eccentric white haired fellow

"The cousin, her name is Hinata, not Himato, she is sweet, you should be nicer to her"

Suigetsu just laughed it off slightly and continued out the door, with Sai in tow

"She can be as sweet as she likes, it's her Cousin I am interested in"

And again Sai found himself laughing despite himself

"You are such a flirt snowflake"

"You jealous?"

"You wish!"

"I do actually"

Sai laughed again and punched Suigetsu's arm, unwittingly knocking him flying sideways, with his strength building up, and the mix of constantly trying to focus his chakra, Sai was never fully in control of his own Strength. He rushed over to help Suigetsu up, Suigetsu gratefully taking the offered hand. Sai pulled him up, once again using a bit too much force, landing Suigetsu flush against his chest

"Sorry about that"

"Hey you can rough handle me any time, if it means I get to rub up against you after"

Sai let out a short laugh and 'gently' pushed him away

"I swear, if you were not a friend of Naruto's, I would so beat up to a pulp"

It was Suigetsu's turn to punch Sai's arm, Sai did not go flying…

"You know you love me, you just won't admit it."

--

Naruto was meditating again, but this time it was without any supervision, there was nothing much else to do in the Cell, Gaara did not like to talk, most of his captures all kept things to business. While sitting there, Naruto began to reflect on the time he had spent there so far.

In the first week of being taken Naruto have been forced to train with Chakra molding, and frustrating as it was, he eventually began to get the hang of it, but he still saw no point to it, At least not until the day he got the determination to escape…

Flashback

Gaara watched now as the blond jumped and gripped to the first platform that was sticking out of the wall, Naruto dangled from it for a moment before he dragged himself up, the second platform was a bit higher and about ten feet away, he backed up a bit and then launched himself forward, It was terrifying, and he felt like he would never make it, preparing himself for the impact of the ground, but he somehow managed to make it over, his upper half sprawling flat out to its surface as his legs scrambled for a grip.

Once more he dragged himself up, and then judged the next platform, this one was higher up, but only about four feet away, he began to stretch his legs as he prepared to jump, but a voice below him made him falter a bit.

"You will fall"

Naruto looked down to Gaara from where he was standing, he was only about 15 feet off the ground, but it was still slightly dizzying.

"I won't fall; I need to get out of here"

That said he made the jump for the next platform, only just gripping to it with his fingers, Pain spread over his features and panic began to set in as he struggled to pull himself up. Once standing on the platform, he took a moment to catch his breath, and once again Gaara's voice drifted up to him.

"You are being foolish, why persist in something so hopeless, there is no way out of this place"

"I have to try"

Naruto looked to the next platform, if was as high possibly only four feet, but the distance was greater than the previous ones, pushing about 12 feet this time. He took a few steps back, to get a good run at it, his heart was pounding and he could feel the blood pumping hard in his veins. And then he drove forward, pushing out to the air with all the force he could muster, his arc was clean and he stretched out his arms to catch hold of the edge of the platform, but as he connected the rock shifted under him and broke loose.

The breath left his body as shock took over, but in that terrifying moment something amazing happened, a hand reached out and grabbed his wrist, stopping his decent, his shoulder dislocated as the full weight of his body jerked against his arm as he was stopped mid fall, this tore a scream from him and he almost missed the soft words spoken to him as he was pulled upwards.

"You are foolish"

Naruto sat there clutching to his arm for a moment, he said nothing for a while as the pain was making it hard for him to think. But then he looked at the Redhead that should have been still sitting 25 feet below him and asked the only question he could.

"How did you do that?"

End of flash back

It did not take long after that for Naruto to become more serious in his training, Itachi worked him very hard, but Naruto found now that he had motivation, it was easier to follow his instruction, and in turn, Itachi seemed to be more willing to show him things that were not relevant to controlling his beast. Today they would be trying something that Itachi called Kage bunshin no Jutsu, he explained that it was a technique the made it possible to create a second version of yourself.

The door to the Cell opened, Naruto slowly revealed his eyes to see who was entering, he expected it to be Itachi, and was slightly surprised when he saw Pain entering with Sasori, he had binding in his hands and for a moment, Naruto thought they were there for him, but Gaara rose to his feet and simply held his hands out to make it easier for them to constrain him. It was all done in silence, and after a few minutes they left.

Naruto was completely alone now, and though Gaara had not been much in the way of company, after a while Naruto felt himself longing for the boy to return. An hour passed, but it felt like a lifetime to Naruto as he sat staring blankly at the walls of his prison, he found himself wondering how Gaara survived so long being here like this. Three maybe four hours passed and still there was nothing. Naruto spent his time either meditating, or trying (and failing) to walk up the walls, so far he had gotten past the first platform. It was getting dark and still Naruto was left alone, but just before he was about to settle to sleep, the door opened.

Itachi walked in, he did not have his usual cloak on him this time, but he was dressed more plainly, the only interesting thing about him this time was that he seemed to be carrying a Scroll on steroids, he looked to Naruto and then to the notch on the wall above them.

"You have made progress without me"

Naruto smiled to his trainer and shrugged his shoulders.

"Nothing else to do really, but I am not very good at it, I keep taking chunks out of the wall when I try to connect"

Itachi nodded and hunched down beside the blond.

"That would mean you are exerting too much power, you need to balance your force just right to get a firm hold, for now though, we will focus on the bunshin, once you master this technique it will greatly improve your training, and should allow us to compensate for the years of instruction you missed"

Itachi sprang up to the first platform and bade Naruto to follow him, Naruto was new to the whole Accelerated jumping thing, and slightly over shot the mark, Itachi caught him by his leg and brought him back, resulting in Naruto slamming to the ground before him. This seemed to be something that Naruto was used to, perhaps a bit too much in fact, as he merely shook it off and went to sit beside his long haired capture.

"So what's the plan today Sensei?"

Itachi smiled, a habit he was picking from being around the blond bijuu, now that they were in a dry spot, he felt it safe to place the script to the ground, he then slowly unfurled the giant scroll he had brought with him, and the first thing Naruto noticed was that it contained text and illustrations of a man cloning himself.

The light was fading so it was hard to make out all the writing that was under the illustrations, so he could not be 100% sure that he was right, But then Itachi began to explain that this Jutsu was designed to make a perfect copy of its user, and once made, it had the ability to act and think on its own, but once the clone was disrupted, all of its experience, would then be transferred to the original.

After that Naruto was left to study it alone, Itachi saying he would be back in the morning to see how he got on. Naruto found himself grinning from ear to ear as he began to focus his chakra. The sooner he mastered this, the easier it would be to build enough strength to get out of here. This was his first step to freedom.


	17. Karin's Responsibility

**Karin's responsibility**

"We have to go, Now!"

"No"

Karin watched this interaction with some uncertainty, what was going on? Naruto was now walking towards another woman with long red hair, she was dressed as though she was right out of boot camp, but Karin knew better, hadn't her Father warned her about this, She began to move towards them, but she didn't quiet know the situation, not yet, but it seemed this Kunichi wanted Naruto, Her Naruto, well okay not hers anymore, but that was not the point.

Naruto though seemed to know her some how, this caused a frown to appear on Karin's face, Why would Naruto know a Ninja? I mean sure, he knew Sasuke, but it was clear that they were not friends, so that didn't count… It occurred to Karin in her absent minded thinking, that Naruto was now leaving, she made to follow him only to be stopped short by Sasuke.

"Don't, Don't you dare"

Karin's eyes went a bit wide, she had never seen Sasuke looking so angry, not even the time she had confessed to him and he stated that he did not fraternize with the enemy, Sasuke was from the leaf, and she was of the Rain, well her father was at least, She didn't really do much by way of ninja training or anything else. So what was Sasuke getting into a strop for?

"Whu… Hang on a minute, he is my boy… er my friend, I have every right to see if he is okay"

"Well he's not okay Karin! Got that! Everything is Falling apart damnit! and its all your fault!!"

Sasuke marched away from her and joined the red head and Kakashi-sensei talking… Then Kakashi was following after Naruto. There was silence for a few minutes then, the music had stopped and no one dared to talk after what transpired, but as though it was the anticipation before the fall, all hell broke loose.

Men were pouring into the dance hall, they all had guns and they were telling every one to get into the centre of the room, Karin was frozen, though she was registering what was happening she could not act on it at all, and then there was a hand on her shoulder, attempting to push her to the centre, out of instinct she grabbed to the hand and twisted it hard, bringing the man to his knees, he had a gun pointed right at her, but as she faced him properly he froze.

"Karin-sama"

Karin would not have believed her eyes could grow any wider, but they did, this man, she had seen him before, at her house, he worked for her father, what was going on?

"Where is my father!?"

The man's eyes shifted to the left slightly after she asked this, and he looked more then a little uncomfortable.

"I am afraid Tanuki-San is buzy miss…"

"Take me to him now!"

--

"Shit, that Damn Uchiha got him! We will never find him at this rate!"

Karin's Father was standing in the centre of a group of his employees when Karin showed up, now normally a Father would be concerned that his 'little princess' would get hurt in this situation, but the smile that appeared on his face was bright enough to light New York in a power cut.

"Karin, Sweetheart, Am I glad to see you"

"Daddy, what's going on?"

The man smiled a bit and kissed Karin on the top of her head, an action that seemed very out of place considering the surroundings.

"Hunny, I need you to do that special technique only you can do, will you do that for me?"

Karin frowned slightly, but began to roll up the sleeve of her dress

"You don't look hurt Daddy…"

"Oh no, not that one, Daddy, needs you to find someone"

Realisation struck her, and a blush spread over her features as she fixed her sleeve.

"What's the matter Daddy? Who is missing?"

"Hunny, it's that Boy you brought home the other day, I did a trace on his name"

"DADDY! You Promised me!!"

"I know I know, but it turns out he was kidnapped from his parents almost Three years ago, The leaf have been holding him against his will, we are here to save him, but your classmate, the one you told me about, Uchiha, he has taken him away. Darling, do you think you can help us? Do you know what Naruto's Chakra looks like?"

Of course she knew what it looked like, she could identify every kid in the school just from there Chakra, though she was not meant to be using her ability outside of her home, she could not help herself to take a peek at the people she knew.

Naruto had a strange Chakra, it felt like there was no end to it, and when she was around him, it always made her feel warm, it was comforting. It would be easy for her to find him, she closed her eyes and reached out with her senses, the best way to describe it was as though she was sending out a wave, and every persons Chakra showed up as it touched to them, she felt Kakashi, he was holding Suigetsu, another boy with strange Chakra, and Sai was there, hiding… there were more men… then nothing… a bit more, and then she found them.

"They are in the Graveyard, heading to one of the graves"

"Good girl Karin, Can you lead us there?"

"Of course Daddy"

--

It was not easy running in a dress, but still she was faster then the men her daddy had hired, they were not trained like she was, And even her Father was not as fast as she was, dress or no dress, so Karin made it to the grave a full minute before them, she knew she should not open the door herself, so she didn't, but she could not help but eavesdrop on what was being said.

_"I was meant to protect you, at least in school, I made sure no one got close to you, Kiba made sure you never got into serious trouble by acting the fool and drawing attention away from you, and Kakashi dissuaded teachers from going to hard on you. We could not afford for certain people to have noticed you. All the while Mairu was pushing to have you removed entirely, every day she would call the organization telling them it was to risky, and everyday she would be told that your father wanted you to be in that school and live as normal of a life as you could, before you got dragged into this…"_

Karin frowned a bit at this… His Father wanted him here, but wasn't Naruto kidnapped by the leaf?

_"You know, so many times I wanted to talk to you, just hang out with you, but that wasn't allowed, and I hated it, I hated it more and more as I forced you into solitude, but that was my role, and I had to abide by it, then__he__came along, and did everything that I had wanted to do, he went against everything that I had been told not to let happen, and even though I knew I should have stopped him, and could have stopped him, I… I just wanted to see you smiling again…"_

Karin held back a gasp, this was Wrong, her Father must have made some kind of mistake, there was a Noise behind her and she saw her father Running to her position, she was slightly shaking her head as he got closer, and put an arm out to stop him, but before she could even get a word out of her mouth he pushed her hard to the side, sending her crashing to the ground as he punched his hand through the thick wood of the door, Naruto was pulled clear of the tomb and instantly Injected with a syringe he had been holding.

"Daddy, what are you doing?"

"Not now Karin"

And he was gone, moving swiftly through the Graves with Naruto under his arm, literally milliseconds after Sasuke was coming from the tomb, That was when the rest of the men arrived. Karin watched in Horror was her classmate desperately fought off one after another, but they kept coming, this was wrong, and she knew it, Sasuke was teetering, so far he had successfully dodged each volley and disarmed the men, but now it was clear he would not last another round. Yes he was her Enemy, and Sure he was a Jerk, but… did that mean she should let him Die?

It was almost like her body was moving on its own now, she moved to one of the men, a hard jab to the ribs, followed by a blow to his knee, a bit to hard as she accidently pushed the bone out of flesh, the man stumbled and fell to the ground, leaving the rest of them Frozen where they stood, all looking at Karin.

"That… That is Enough, you have what you came for, just, just leave him alone"

The men shifted slightly but after a moment they filtered away, Leaving Sasuke blearily staring at Karin.

"Are you… okay?"

Stupid question, but to late to take it back now, Sasuke did not answer her, he mearly fell forward to his knees and began to plummet, Karin Ran forward to Catch him, only to be beaten to it by Kiba, He stared at her for a moment, neither of them saying a word, and then a Giant dog landed next to him and instantly began to growl at her.

"You had better go Karin"

She nodded and ran, she ran as fast as she could away from there, away from what she could class as her first real battle per-say, all she wanted to do now was get home and ask just what was going on, and where Naruto had been taken too.

--

It was nearly three weeks later that Karin saw her father, the School had been closed (for obvious reasons) and she was house bound due to the 'act of terrorism'. When her Father did eventually come home, Karin found it hard to get him alone for two seconds, he always had something to do, or he would actively ignore her outright.

It was two months afterwards that Karin could not take it anymore, three days into the month and still she could not get him to talk, he would ignore her, or go out of his way to avoid her, but on the fourth day she finally cornered him.

"Father, you need to tell me what's going on, it's been months now, where is Naruto? What did you do with him?"

"Karin, this matter is out of my hands, it is better that you do not get involved."

Karin was shaking her head and he began to walk away from her, but she caught to his arm.

"I am not letting this go Father"

It was her fathers turn to shake his head and he merely removed her hand from his arm.

"If you get yourself involved in this Karin, I will no longer be able to protect you, think long and hard about your choices, is that boy really worth ruining your life for?"

Karin did not answer, how could she? After all she did not know Naruto that well, and Karin was aware of the consequences, Her father all but made it clear that if she went snooping she would not be just going against her fathers wishes, but it would be going against the rain, and that was not a clever move.

Having said nothing in response her father took it that she was not going to take it any further and he returned to his work, leaving Karin to return to her room. In there she went to her bed and sat to the edge of it in thought. The whole situation was leaving a bad taste in her mouth, and over again the words Sasuke had said to her at the Dance repeated in her head.

This was all her fault.

It was her Fault that Naruto had been taken, but then where had he been taken, and why, she needed more information, this was not something she was about to rashly jump into, just for some boy, even if the boy was Hot, and sweet and kind… and somewhat Gay, damnit. She sighed and lay back on the bed.

She had to do something, she needed a plan.

--

It took a further Two weeks for her father to drop his Guard, Karin did not mention Naruto anymore, and he did not offer any information. But that was fine, because Karin knew where to get it from, one thing she knew about her father was he was organized, and kept files on almost everything he did on his Laptop, A laptop that hardly ever left his side. Except when he was washing, Another thing Karin knew was that he liked to take long baths.

So all she had to do was wait. 12.45 am, Her father content in the knowledge that everyone in the house was asleep prepared to have his customary late night bath of the evening. Unbeknownst to him, his daughter was waiting just outside his room, it would be relatively simple, She knew the password from the many times she had seen him log on, she would have over an hour to search for the files, from there all she had to do was copy them and study them on her own computer.

She slipped into the room, opened the laptop and plugged in her earphones so that the starting sound would be muted. A few minutes later and she was in, and as she expected, everything was labled, she put Naruto's name into the search bar, but nothing showed up, at this she blanched slightly, she was sure that would have worked. But she did not give up, she then put in the date of the dance. Ten files came up for that date, one of which was called 'battle report' She hurriedly opened this and scanned the contents. It was pretty generic, but there she found that they were referring to Naruto as the Kuybi Jincuruki, or simply the second child.

She then put these phrases into the search engine, and a full folder came up on the Jincuruki project, and then a separate folder came up on 'the second child'.

This was it, what she had been looking for, she pluged in her usb key and transferred the files over, and there was a lot in the folders, the timer fluctuated from 20 minutes to 45 minutes, beads of sweat began to form on her head as she waited patiently (or patiently as she could) for the files to transfer, she became hyper aware of the sounds of her Father in the bath, 5 minutes, she could hear him unclipping the lid of the shampoo, he was finishing up, 2 minutes, He was using the shower to rinse his hair, File transferred.

Now all she had to do was shut the laptop down, she removed her usb drive and opened all of the other files her dad had open previous to her reading the battle report, then she quickly Shut Word down closing all the files with it, and shut down the computer, which was painfully slow, as soon as the shutting down music played she pulled out her Earphones, closed the lid and replaced it to the table where he had left it.

And a second sooner, as just as she opened his bedroom door, he opened the door from the en-suite, she softly clicked the door closed so he would not look her way, and out side she dashed to her room. Only when she reached its 'safe' confines, did she let out a breath of relief, she was clutching to her Usb key like her life depended on it, her heart was thumping so hard it hurt, but there was a thrill of exhilaration now coming over her.

She had done it! She first 'stealth' mission, self imposed of course, but she had done it, and it had gone perfectly! Now all she had to do was read the files and find out just what the hell was going on!


	18. Revalations

_'Training has been going well, Suigetsu was right, as loath as I am to admit it, but it has been easier to concentrate when I am relaxed. It's getting easier to do that too, I am getting faster at drawing, and I do find it also relaxes me, so I have been working more and more on that. I can manifest my paintings for over an hour now, and I have begun to read information from them too. Tsunade thinks I will be perfect for gathering information, and plans to send me out on my first mission soon._

_I can mask my presence better now as well, and if all goes well, I should be allowed to visit Aunt Enma next week, I am not allowed to tell her what is going on, but it will be nice just to see her'_

* * *

Sai stood at the exit, a man named Yamato was teaching him the hand signals used to move the boulder that was obstructing the entrance, he was explaining that it would move back into position as soon as he was clear of its range, but that Sai had to be vigilant when returning to make sure that the 'enemy' did not follow him to this spot.

Sai was agreeing to this easily, he knew the risks but he wanted out, out from this underground village and out into the real world. As the stone moved back, Sai found himself blinded, his sense of time had been distorted, and what he assumed would be an evening sun, turned out to be a morning sun, the Natural light hit his eyes and he flinched back from it slightly, stepping out then, the clean air filtered into his lungs and it almost hurt, he had gotten used to the stuffy confines of the village, and it worried him that he had gotten so accustomed to it so quickly. Yamato looked to him and smiled.

"be back here by evening Sai, or if you feel you are being tracked, let us know and we will come to get you"

The pale boy nodded and Yamato turned, heading back underground, Sai then turned to the tree line facing the clearing, he began to walk towards it, then he began to run, and soon running became 'free' running, it was an entirely different experience outside, the wind blowing against his skin, the smells around him, now stronger due to his heightened senses, and soon he found himself laughing as he leapt from rooftop to rooftop of the empty suburbs, and even had anyone been there, he would have been nothing more then a shapeless blur to them, but still, as he neared a more populated area, he slowed down, and landed, starting to walk again after a time. He knew that he was not meant to be seen to use his skills, it was one of the 'rules' imposed on him now, and with some reluctance, he stood by the bus stop that would take him home.

He was waiting a good ten minutes, and his impatience was becoming evident as he began to pace back and forth, it was during his 40th lap that a pink haired girl rounded the corner, she had been talking animatedly to her boyfriend when she locked eyes to him. Her words stalled and her hand moved up to suppress a gasp, and soon she was racing up the street to him

"Sai! Oh my god! It really is you! We all thought you were dead! Where did you go? What happened? Do you know where the rest of them are? Sasuke? Kiba? Hinata? Neji? Naruto?... Even Ino went missing! We thought those men kidnapped you guys, but, it's weird Sai, when we reported them missing, the police didn't know what we were talking about. Its like they never exsisted. Except you, none of them had any files, or anything! Lee said that he thinks it was some government cover up, that they were abducted for some kind of testing, but because you have an aunty living here, they could not erase you! Is that what happened Sai? Did they do experiments on you? OH! But you probably don't remember!"

She looked at Lee who just nodded slowly to that and continued on

"Indeed! They most likely erased your memory before releasing you, after all, they could not let their secret out! BUT FEAR NOT! I LEE SHALL ENDEVOUR TO AID YOU AT ALL COST!"

Sai just watched the interaction not saying a word, but then he smiled and nodded to himself… though it would have been a good story to feed them had he planned to stay, that was not the case, and he just smiled.

" It is nice to see you Sakura.. er.. Lee, but I am afraid that it is nothing as exciting as all that, I was simply in hospital, after the attack I was taken to a specialised hospital, None of us could remember what happened after the attack, let alone our names, they took everyone's records from the school in an effort to Identify us, but it would seem my file did not have a photograph, so that might be why mine was left behind… it took a while for me to regain my memories, and I am still a little fuzzy… they let me out to visit my Aunty, but I will have to return later today"

Both Lee and Sakura looked suitably deflated to that, but it did not stop Sakura from questioning him some more.

"So the others? They are alright? You see them?"

Sai nodded a bit but then let out a sigh

"I see some of them, it is a pretty big place… Kiba and I see each other a lot, though I did not recognise him at the start… I don't think I have seen Sasuke, though I know he was brought to the place… and I am afraid Naruto is not there at all…"

Again Sakura gasped, and Lee frowned and spoke.

"Naruto! He made for a worthy rival! FROM THIS DAY ON! I SHALL DEDICATE MYSELF TO FINDING HIM!"

Sai could only smile, thinking his training might have gone smoother had he that much energy to spare. Sakura made to ask another question, but Sai's bus arrived, and he politely excused himself from the pair.

It was two in the afternoon when Sai arrived to his house, he would have been quicker travelling by foot, but he knew he could not do that out in the open, He reached up to the doorbell, giving it a short sharp ring, it took his Aunt a while to get the door, but when it opened, Sai found himself being hugged as though she might never let him go again. It was good to see her, and she had not changed at all in the 6 months he had been away.

Once inside she began to catch him up to speed, he had been worried she would question him on what he was doing when he was gone, but she explained almost right away that she knew he was safe from the man that had given her his letter.

And at the mention of a letter, she seemed to remember something and instantly sat up, she began to root around the cupboards and then in a few draws, and after a minute she produced a thick cream envelope.

"A girl came here about a month ago, she was looking for you, said she was your friend, I explained to her that you were not here, and I told her about the man, Kakashi, that told me you were okay, she seemed to know him and she just nodded, a week after that she came back to me with a letter for you, she said something about 'when the leaf let you out' that I should give this to you."

Sai was understandably confused, How anyone could have traced him to this area was beyond him, and to say she was a friend? If she was not already from the Leaf, then how did she know about it? Sai did not know of Karin's involvement or the Rain, all he knew was that Naruto had been taken by a 'rival organisation' but nothing more then that, Tsunade was very reluctant to share information with him, and it frustrated him to no end. He took the letter and smiled to his aunty, though he did not open it right away, wanting to spend as much time as he could with his only surviving family member, before he had to get back to business.

The afternoon passed all to quickly, and soon he was faced with a teary aunty as he prepared to leave again, though he promised to return soon.

It was on the bus ride back that Sai opened the letter, There was a lot of pages in it, and a hand written letter. It was from Karin, and Sai found himself frowning to the opening line…

'_Sai_

_I am assuming from your Aunts words that you are now training with the leaf, I suppose you are doing it to find Naruto. But there is a lot you don't know about him, the leaf or me.'_

He paused in reading for a moment, wondering what she meant by that, he already knew a lot about Naruto, he knew about him being a container, and how the organisation that captured him planned to use him as a weapon… so he doubted there would be much more then that. He went back to the letter then.

_'I have enclosed in this letter, all of the information that my father has on Naruto, there is also mention of a first, Third and fourth child, the first one is a boy called Gaara, they have had him as a child, The fourth is a now independent Ninja who calls himself Killerbee, according to reports, he is currently in America, but they have yet to capture him, as he is far to independent and dangerous. They have no information on the third child other then his blood has healing properties. _

_Sai, The reason behind the Jincuruki project was to create a weapon, Naruto is a vital component to the__ir plan and Gaara is living weapon, Naruto's blood is deadly, and Gaara's ability allows him to assassinate multiple targets with 100% accuracy instantly when his projectiles are soaked in that blood._

_But further to that, Naruto's destructive force has no comparison to Gaara's, once released, it can not be controlled fully, and it is estimated that he could take out entire cities. But this could also Kill Naruto himself. But they don't seem to care about that, Well the Rain at least. I do not have the accurate Intel to say what the Leafs plans for Naruto are, but I do not trust them, nor do I trust the Rain. I have given you information on Naruto's location, as best as I can determine it. I am setting off in a few weeks once I have gathered supplies to try and find him and rescue him myself. I had originally come to tell you that I was going to bring him back to you, but now that I see you are part of the leaf, I have a favour to ask of you._

_Sai, I would like you to find out the leafs intentions for Naruto, and if you find them honourable, I would request assistance, I should be able to find Naruto, but I do not know for sure if I will be able to get him out safe alone. I have left you instructions on how you can find me. But please don't share them with anyone else, I don't know who I can fully trust, I know that my father has some spys in the leaf, Though no names were mentioned, I am taking a big risk in even sending you this letter. I am defying my Father and in so doing, also the Rain, For that, I could very well be killed, so I hope you can understand my need for secrecy._

_I hope you are well Sai, despite your current situation. And I hope to soon return to you with Naruto._

_With faith_

_Karin Tanuki'_

Sai re-read the letter three or four times before he began to look over the documentation that had been enclosed in it, Everything Kiba had told him about was now confirmed in document form, the experiments, development reports, the sealing of the beasts to the children, and more, it went on to training reports of the child called Gaara, how when he fell into a certain kind of sleep, his 'beast' would take control of him. There was mention of the facility he was held in, placing it to Nevada dessert, but it gave no clear indication of exactly where. But it was enough information to get the pale boy excited, this was it, the break that they needed.

He packed away the documents, and put Karin's letter in his pocket separately. He respected that she was taking a big risk in doing this, and he had every intention of following her wishes.

* * *

Naruto could not be sure how long he had stayed awake, but he was sure of one thing, making clones was epic, but rather tiring. He sat back, leaning his back to another him, it was a strange sensation, and for the most part, he knew he should be very weirded out by it all. He laughed a bit and his clone inclined his head slightly.

"What is it?"

"I was just remembering the look on my face after I succeeded in creating the first clone, it was rather strange to have that memory flash into my head after it disappeared though…"

The clone he was leaning on was nodding and then chuckled slightly too.

"And if you look at it in a different light, right now you are not only talking to yourself, but you are answering yourself too, I think we might have gone a bit mad."

Naruto smiled and began to stand up again.

"I am not surprised, considering all I have to look at day in and day out are water eroded walls and trickling sand streams. Anyway, we should get on with this… I am up to making 75 clones… I am going to try for 100 this time"

"Fair enough"

The clone disappeared and Naruto began to focus his chakra, he tried to visualise the positions of each clone, the form, the shape, each aspect of them, and with a deep breath he then began to form the hand seals needed

"Kage bunshin no jutsu!"

* * *

Karin had been keeping quiet since she sent the letter to Sai, her father seemed to suspect nothing, he did not pay much mind to her, though she did seem a bit distracted from time to time. It was over dinner that he questioned her on it, and she just looked away from him, hoping he would believe her lie. This was the moment she had been waiting for after all.

"I am sorry father, I know your work is important, and I understand that you must have a very good reason for taking Naruto in that way… but I am finding it hard not to think of him, he was the first boy that seemed to really like me, he was so nice and …. Well chivalrous, I am trying to put him out of my mind as you have said, I have been taking walks, doing chores, anything to distract me, but everything around here is so familiar, it is reminding me of him…. I don't know what to do"

Her father frowned, he was not expecting his daughter to have grown so fond of the vessel, but he meant what he said, it was out of his hands, there really was nothing he could do for the boy, no matter how his daughter might have cared for him, this was for the good of the Rain.

"Karin… I am afraid I-"

"No, it's alright, I understand it is for the good of our organisation, Perhaps I should take a break, a vacation maybe… Just travel for a bit… maybe see my friend Amy in New York? It might clear my head of all this for a while…"

Her father seemed to deliberate this for a moment…

"Alright, I will book flights for you tomorrow, and arrange spending money… a hotel too"

"I could stay with Amy? It has been ages since I had a girly sleepover, it might be fun, spending spree and make up, it should do the trick!"

She was feigning excitement now, if this went according to plan, no suspicion would be raised on her at all, at least if she was not caught while she was over there, and her dad seemed more then happy at this arrangement, just seeming to be pleased that his daughter was smiling again.

"I will ring her family and let them know you are coming"

"Thanks Daddy!"

And she skipped from the room with a giant smile on her face, that had gone perfectly!

* * *

Speaking of things going perfectly. Itachi walked in just as Naruto had completed the last seal and uttered the mantra, he was, for want of a better term, shocked at the boys progress, it seemed the young blond was in every way just like his mother for having such aptitude for these kinds of things. All one hundred clones looked towards him as he coughed lightly.

"Well done Naruto… though you may want to disperse them for now, as your room mate is back and it is a little crowded in here"

Every clone disappeared and Naruto leapt from one of the lower tiers, as he drew closer to Itachi, he slowed down, he could see Gaara standing behind him, or more to the point, leaning behind him. His eyes looked dead and there was clear signs of blood on his now ragged clothing. Naruto frowned and looked Itachi dead in the eye.

"What happened to Gaara?"

Gaara hearing the voice, tired to look up, but his head felt to heavy, and the movement itself hurt, Itachi looked back at him, noticing this movement, though he did not remark on it being strange (which it was) instead he just returned his focus to Naruto.

"Sasori had need to use a strong sedative on the boy, though his mission went well, he forgot himself in the end, don't worry Naruto. He will be fine in a few hours. You should get some rest for now"

Deidara carried Gaara in, he said nothing, but he did look between Itachi and Naruto as they exchanged words… it was odd seeing the usually quiet man being so carefree (or as carefree as Itachi gets) with this boy, and the blond soon found himself staring at Naruto. He too had seen the clones Naruto had made, and he had to admit it was impressive.

"We have to prepare for tonight hmm, don't be long Itachi"

With he left leaving Itachi looking at Naruto, he was silent for a while, but then after a while he inclined to Gaara.

"There might be hope for him yet… look after him Naruto"

And that was that, Itachi left the room and Naruto looked towards the red head. Gaara was just slumped against a wall his hands clasped together in his lap, Naruto moved towards him and crouched down to look at him carefully, once he was sure enough that Gaara knee he was there, he whispered to him.

"Gaara… are you okay? What did they do to you?"

The red head looked up then, pale green eyes locked onto bright blue.

"You have to get out of here"


	19. The start of each journey

**Karin's journey**

Lying was so easy for her, having arrived in New York, Karin easily convinced Amy that she had a secret internet boyfriend, and she wanted to meet up with him without her father knowing about it.

"You know how protective daddy is Amy, he would never have let me meet him!, And he is just so Cool! And SO hot!"

"But Karin, what if he is a murderer or something?"

Karin laughed and shook her head.

"No way! We web cam all the time! And he wanted to send me roses on my birthday, but I told him not to because then Father would know. Oh please Amy, you have to help me!"

Amy being the hopeless romantic that she was agreed, ignoring the fact that this was extremely dangerous in its own rights… she told Amy that she would have to leave her phone here, as her dad might ring looking for her, and he might suspect if he did not hear city noises…

Though the real reason was that despite the fact that she thought her dad believed her, she still worried that he might track her phone, but she assured Amy that she would buy a new one with her before she left and would text her every day to let her know she was safe.

The plan was simple, Karin was to set out in search of Naruto, and hopefully get him out without being caught… Should Sai actually manage to find out details of the leafs plans and deem them trustworthy, then he was to go to Amy, tell her that he was Karin's secret boyfriend, and that she told him that she would know how to get in touch with her.

And if she heard nothing from him, then she would assume the Leaf were enemies too. Simple as that.

* * *

**Sai's Dilemma **

To discover if the Leaf was trustworthy… Until now, he had just been training with the resolve to get stronger, not truly thinking upon the people he was training with… did they have Naruto's best interests at heart?

But what was the best way to find out?

He said nothing as he entered the secret village again, keeping the information he had to himself for a while, Though he was questioned on the package when he arrived, He explained it was a gift from a friend at school. And seeing as he was not lying, there was no reason for him not to be believed. When he got back to his apartment, he began thinking, it was clear that the 'third child' was Suigetsu, And even thinking back on how the boy had been treated, as an object, it made Sai frown…

Just what were the leaf's intentions… He wanted to be sure, after all, now that he thought upon it, they had basically made his life hell just to keep him hidden hadn't they? So now what would they do? It was clear that there was someone who had wished Naruto led a 'Normal' life, though now, it would be hard to believe that they would allow him to return to normality…

He himself had been trapped here after all, only letting him out after they were sure he would not be followed… He needed to think, and though he wanted to talk to someone about it, he didn't think any here would be trustworthy, with the exception of Suigetsu possibly, but then he would be as clueless as himself most likely. No, this matter needed reflection… And though he had improved at his art techniques lately, he knew that he could do with more training, so it was best not to rush into this… Patience was key…

But he did not want to wait too long… After all, who knew what was happening to Naruto even as he stood there in his room?

This was a problem.

The more he thought upon it, the more he knew it was going to be a problem. If he went up to the village leader and asked outright, 'what are you intentions with Naruto?' It would draw suspicion, and possibly lead to Suigetsu being watched, if not imprisoned too.

And that was another problem.

Suigetsu.

If he did have to leave. He would be taking the boy with him. Suigetsu had been Naruto's friend, but now he was his friend too.

But if it turned out that the Leaf where intending to lock Naruto up, he would have to act fast in leaving. Getting himself out would be hard enough, but to get the Suigetsu out too? It all seemed impossible!

The dark haired boy threw his arms up in desperation one day during his practice, and sent a dark blot of ink flying at Suigetsu, This was unusual enough in itself, but being followed then by Sai huffing and getting up to leave. It triggered the showy haired boy to follow him.

'Wait up dumpling!'

"…."

"Hey!"

"…."

Suigetsu broke into a run and latched onto the pale boys arm, this seeming to halt all movements. Silence flooded between the pair, and eventually dark eyes looked to pale.

"come to my room later, I need to talk to you"

A few hours later and Suigetsu was pacing the floor just like Sai had been the last few nights. Just as Sai had thought, Suigetsu was as clueless about the whole situation as he was, but one thing was clear. He felt better for sharing.

"And it was Karin, you are sure she is alright?"

Sai could only shrug his shoulders in answer to that, the truth was, he had no REAL way of knowing. But what other leads did he have?

"Who knows? But right now, there is a chance we could find him, Karin is asking for help, but I don't want to lead her into a trap and Naruto into a prison… well… another prison"

"I know that Dumpling, but, if we don't talk to someone, I mean, they let you out, but they won't even consider letting me see fresh air, I am to important apparently"

Sai nodded and rubbed at his temple.

"You are the third child"

The apparenment door burst open, and without thinking both Sai and Suigetsu had flung Kunai towards it. Them just propelling forward to empty space, Two pair of eyes watched the opening intently and after a moment, one hand appeared, followed by a head. Kiba inched his way into vision, holding both hands up to show he was not armed.

"You guys are in WAY over your heads… I like it! Where do I sign?"

* * *

**Naruto's Epiphany **

'_you have to get out of here!'_

Gaara had said nothing after that, falling into to what Naruto could only describe as sleeping while awake. He was like that for hours, and after a long time of worriedly looking to the boy, Naruto himself decided that he should perhaps try to sleep as Itachi suggested.

But that was not the only thing that was said, no what Itachi had also said played back, and as he dosed, the last words filtered in… '_there might be hope for the boy yet'_, Might be hope for Gaara? Hope in what way… Muddled memories of the past few days…. Or was it weeks, came around him as he thought upon this, various glares from the red head, and the softened looks, the silence right down to his now want to say broken words… and the last thing he remembered from his dream was Gaara as he caught him from falling that time, but saying the words "we have to get out of here"

Naruto woke with a jump. The sun was bright now and high in the sky, and he blinked a few times as though it would make the light go away, failing at that, he then turned to his side and pushed himself to a sitting position, holding a hand to his head as he did so…

What had happened to him? He just went to sleep right? So why did he feel so tired now?

A noise, just a soft shuffling, but enough to snap his attention back to reality. Gaara was looking at him, his pale green eyes looking less dead then they had the night before, and cerulean eyes widened a touch as he remembered the night prior, Getting up he began to move to the red head… the last words from his dream filtering back.

'we have to get out of here'

But that had not been what Gaara had said to him the night before, Gaara had just said Naruto had to get out, but a smile crept over his lips as he came to understand the meaning behind his dream, and strangely behind something Itachi had said…

Itachi wanted to help Gaara, but he was their guard, so why would he be happy that Gaara seemed to be becoming less like a zombie? Wouldn't that just cause them problems in the long run?

Sitting next to the red head, he stifled a yawn. Gaara said nothing, but did not make any move to indicate annoyance, nor did he try to move away, and Naruto smiled softly to him.

"So What's the plan on us getting out of here then?"

He was faced with widened eyes. And he quickly looked to the door and then back to the blond, Naruto of course knew what Gaara had to be thinking at that point, knew the red head must think he crazy, but in truth, it all made perfect sense.

Why else would Itachi be acting the way he was acting? Why else be training him like this, and not Gaara? Because Gaara was unreachable, but then it was there, the hope. Perhaps there is hope for the boy after all, that was what Itachi had said right? So it must mean he wanted to save Gaara too.

Wait.

Hold up.

Itachi wanted to save them?

"Hey Gaara? Why don't you and Itachi train and talk like I do?"

The change of subject seemed to throw his cellmate, as the red head just seemed to be growing confused, the look beginning to show over his features.

"I mean I know your not into talking much, so maybe you don't really connect, but, he seems like an alright guy"

That seemed to be enough to sober up the red head as he snapped his arm forward and covered the blonds mouth.

"No. No, He is just a guard, and we are the prisoners. Don't trust him."

That was the most coherent sentence the red head had spoken since his arrival, and Naruto just smiled behind the hand and lifted his own hand to try and prize the other away, but instead opted to mumble behind the red heads hand.

"Okay, sho, we flan togedher"

Gaara just raised a hairless brow, which made the blond chuckle.

"Lishen Made, I'n nor lebbin er wivvoud you"

Five days later and two blonds are seen chasing each other through the halls, It was clear one of them was very annoyed at this, but the younger of the two seemed to be having the time of his life as he twisted and turned.

"Hahhhahhahhahaaa!"

"You… You little brat, When I catch you I will make extra special art out of you un!"

This only resulted in the spiky haired annoyance turning down a new corridor while mockingly calling back.

'only if you catch me!'

He was fast, Deidara could not deny him that, but this was annoying, Turning the corner he caught the blond pulling at a door that lead to the armoury. Gripping the blond then he seemed to pop. And despite it being the fourth time, Deidara found himself jumping. why did Itachi ever think it would be a good idea to teach the boy how to clone himself, This was the fourth time he had to chase after the blond only to find out it was a false alarm.

Oh he was ready to explode, figuratively and literally, and the worst of it all was, the clones each had the same cocky cheeky grin, the little shit was enjoying this, having fun! FUN! Of all the impertinent! Horrible! Annoying!

He stormed down to the cell, only to be met with a giant smile, But that was not the worrying part, the worrying part was that there was a second smile greeting him too, the red head, he was smiling.

"You think you're so funny un, lets see you clone your way out of thi-"

"What are you doing Deidara?"

The cold voice of the dark haired akatsuki member filled the room, and the pony tailed blond froze, Itachi moved slowly up behind him and slid past without difficulty.

The older blond tried to hide the clay figure he was beginning to craft, but it was to late, Itachi had seen it, and he narrowed now red eyes.

"You should leave"

"Uh..un…"

As soon as the cell door closed, laughter rang out from the blond, and more surprisingly also from the red head, and all Itachi could do was sigh.

"You really are not making my job any easier Naruto-kun"

A bright smile and then a soft punch to the shoulder, an interaction that at first had shocked the dark haired senior, but it was something he was getting used to, and something that even Gaara was showing amusement in.

"Oh come on, it's harmless fun, besides, you should have seen his face!"

Another sigh, followed by a palm pressed to his forehead.

"I do see his face, everyday, and Sasori's, and the rest, Naruto, as much as you might think this is fun, there is only so much I can do to protect you here… you have to be smart about this… think like a ninja would think…"

Naruto seemed to sober up at that and then frowned, Was Itachi telling him it… was alright to do what he was doing… just to do it…better?

"Like… a ninja would…"

"Ninjas do not get caught…"

This was from Gaara, and both looked to him. He rose from his spot, and then looked to Naruto… he looked to him for more then a few moments before he made a set of hand seals, seals that made Naruto freak a bit.

Yeah he had made a double of himself before, but this was different, his double had replaced Gaara… no, his double was Gaara, and it was almost perfect, all except the expression.

Naruto looked back to Itachi.

"I can do that?"

If he did not know any better, he could have sworn Itachi was smiling as he gave a small nod.

"But, to pull of such a thing requires more then just knowing what the target looks like, for instance, I could clearly tell that Gaara is not you, as he is not impersonating your personality. When using transformation techniques such as these, it is important to choose your target well, and understand them."

Naruto thought about this, a serious look of concentration coming upon his face… think like a ninja, blend in, know your target…

Well… He knew the area he was imprisoned in well enough. He knew the weak spots, and one of his clones actually made it out before he recalled him…. But it was getting out that was the problem… he had only made it to the door of his cell once, and that was only after he flooded the grounds with clones.

What information he did have was this, only three people ever came down here. Deidara, Sasori and Itachi. Of the three, he knew Deidara's personality and Itachi's.

If he were to Impersonate Deidara, it would be hard to keep a low profile, seeing as the other is so loud… but…

"I should mimic you"

The other ninja just smiled.

"You think you can?"

Naruto grinned.

"Yeah, no problem"

* * *

Okay guys! So I am SUPER sorry it has taken me such a long time to post this chapter! I have been ill/stressed/buzy/broke For a while now so getting around to anything like this has been hard. BUT as with my art. I am going to try and get back into it! After all, I want to write it out as much as I am sure some of you guys want to read it to the end!

Anyways! Thanks to EVERYONE that has been reading. And I will do my best to get it done for you guys.


	20. Alliances and plans

_Hey every one, I know I have not updated in a very long time, but I have not forgotten this at all, just been stupidly busy with setting up a company, and I am taking a break right now to write for you all ^_^_

* * *

**Alliances **

Sai had to admit, Kiba seemed to be a natural at this, perhaps it was from his years of acting up in class? or perhaps it was the fact that he too cared for Naruto in his own way? Whatever it was, it was a godsend to the artist who was once more going over the new plan in his head.

"I know that it seems like it will work… but are you sure, absolutely sure she won't suspect?"

Sai spoke in soft words as he did his usual weight training, he was so quiet, you would think he was talking to himself, but a nod from the scruffy looking brunette said other wise.

Kiba had dived right into the plan headlong, he was in fact, already thinking of what he would do to 'rescue' Naruto should they find him.

"Tsunade doesn't know Naruto that well, she never really met him you see, just read reports, so I doubt she will see him as a person right now, so if I went to her talking about him like a person, she would not be inclined to answer, but if I go up to her like it was a mission… she might be more willing to give me information."

Sai stopped what he was doing to train his dark eyes on the boy, it was clear he was still unsure.

"Kiba, I know that part is sound, but I am worried for Karen in this"

Kiba's features seemed to darken at the mention of her name, though it was not for hatred of her, it was just, what she was a part of, Even though Sai had shown him the letter, Kiba could not help but think it a trap, a plot of some sort. And so his plan had been originally an outright betrayal of her trust.

But after Sai threatened to kill him if he did that (and considering how strong the boy had become in such a short time, Kiba feared it possible) He decided against testing him, the new plan had a lot less implication, but he still needed to highlight her.

Kiba moved to the door and looked at Sai with a fixed gaze, he was confident his plan would work, but he still gave it one more run through in his mind. Just in case.

"It will work Sai, and Karen will be fine, This way everything will be 'official' Tsunade will let me, you and Hinata go, though Hinata won't be with us, that will be Sugetsu. You know Hinata will go along with the plan, she has had the biggest crush on Naruto for a very long time… She will hide at your Aunts while we are gone, and Karen… Well, Karen would be welcome here if Tsunade listens to us after, and if not… well, we will all go into hiding together… Either way Sai, it is the only workable possibility… you have to trust me on this…Now, you are due to train with Sasuke, I will come by your place later."

And with that Kiba left.

The walk to Tsunade's office was long, purely because he was walking it, Akamaru was by his side, and once or twice whined at him. It was easy talking about this plan to Sai, but the reality of it was, if Tsunade did not agree in the end… they would have to fight her, and that was not a pleasant thought.

He gave a few short knocks and entered without confirmation, he was expected anyway. Tsunade looked at him with her honey brown eyes and gestured for him to come closer

"you said you have something you needed to talk about"

Kiba moved to stand before her desk, and he nodded his head softly, it was now or never, and despite his nerves, it didn't seem to show in his face or his voice

"I wanted to talk to you about the Girl from the Rain, Karen."

Tsunade said nothing but just made a gesture that he should continue

"I have been watching her for the last few weeks, since the target was taken, Karen had a close connection to Naruto, and judging from Sasuke's report, it was safe to assume she did not know who or what he was to begin with."

Tsunade held up her hand to make him stop and curty addressed him

"Kiba, does this have a point?"

Kiba knew this was coming, and stood to attention a bit, looking a bit frazzled, though it was still an act

"Well, you see, they, they were dating…"

"Kiba! I do not need to know about The containers love life, where is this going?!"

Just as Kiba had expected, the woman was getting impatient, which was just what he wanted

"Well, it's just, Karen seems to be going against her Father… I intercepted a phone call, she is plotting to rescue Nar… the Container… if she is doing that, then maybe she knows his location… I thought-"

Hands slammed down on the table so forcefully that it was a miracle it did not break

"Then why have you not caught her and brought her here!"

Kiba flinched, even though he knew that she would act this way, it was still scary as hell, he shuffled his feet slightly and backed up a foot or so

"Well… I thought… seeing as she was friends with Sai back in class… that… that it might be better if we, well, if we made her believe we defected, went out on our own to find him… she might trust us… if she doesn't, then we can take her back here…"

The blond stared at him, it was not a bad plan, but… it was risky

"You want to take Sai with you on this team I suppose? Is he ready for a mission?"

Kiba smiled a bit and tilted his head

"That boy is ready to take on the Uchiha, They are training right now, and its at a point where even little boy Genius is having a hard time fighting with his"

Tsunade frowned and sat back down, rubbing her temple as she thought about it

"And you said Sai was friends with this Karen, what if he defends her?"

Kiba nodded a bit

"Yeah, I thought about that too, so I think I should bring Hinata with us, she can block his chakra if needed"

Tsunade was nodded softly, it was clear she was going to agree, and the next set of words that she spoke were no surprise to Kiba, and he was already making the appropriate face before she even looked up to him

"Neji would be better for… oh, that is right, you do not get along with the Hyuuga boy, do you? Well I do not see any reason to object to this… but you will have to bring Kakashi with you"

Kiba's eyes widened slightly, he had not expected her to say that, and he opened his mouth to protest, but she cut him off

"This is a dangerous mission, I can not send you off without a more experienced Ninja to back you up. He will not interfere, he will be a shadow, you will not question this Kiba. That is final!"

The boy looked somewhat deflated as he left, but all in all, it was not a terrible outcome.


End file.
